M A I N   N E W S

TRIBUNE EXCLUSIVE
selection of PGI director
Objectivity missing in marking, assessment
Aditi Tandon/TNS

New Delhi, November 13
The Union Ministry of Health appears to be learning still to make appointments on key posts. An investigation by The Tribune reveals that the eight-member selection panel set up to search for a Director for the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) at Chandigarh not only abdicated its responsibility to a four-member sub-panel, but also accepted its recommendation without asking any question.

The basis on which marks were given to the 19 candidates who appeared for the final interview, for example, is not known. When questioned, former Health Secretary K Chandramouli, one of the committee members, said, “I don’t recall. And I am now retired. I am no longer the Health Secretary. Please ask the present incumbent.”

Another committee member said the panel assessed candidates’ leadership qualities. “Leadership assessment is subjective and depends on the perception of committee members,” he said.

The marking was entirely subjective. Aggregate marks were given to candidates without stating who scored what against prescribed parameters of seniority, academic achievement, publications and administrative experience. Minutes of the committee meeting merely record, “The committee agreed on benchmarking candidates on the scale of 100 for assessment.” This violates the Supreme Court ruling, which says no selection will have subjective component in excess of 20 per cent.

Anil Gupta, PGI’s serving Medical Superintendent with 15 years experience in managing a 2,000-bed institute, got the lowest marks — 30. The committee awarded 53 marks to Kartar Singh, the longest serving Head of Department in the PGI (gastroenterology), who was also Director of the Sanjay Gandhi PGIMS at Lucknow from 2003 to 2006.

Another senior professor and former SG PGIMS Director AK Mahapatra, now head of neurosurgery at AIIMS, got 73 marks while Yogesh Chawla (now Director, PGI), got the highest - 85 marks - though he had no administrative experience and headed the smallest department (in terms of bed capacity) - hepatology - in the PGI.

Interviewees with more research publications and awards also received less marks than others. SK Jindal, head of pulmonary medicine at the PGI with two ICMR awards and over 400 publications got 72 marks while Chandigarh GMCH Director Raj Bahadur got 75, despite a thinner academic record.

Digambar Behera, director of the LRS Institute of TB at New Delhi, who has three ICMR awards, two BC Roy awards, 21 national awards and over 300 publications to his credit, also got lower marks - 75 - than Chawla, who has fewer awards and publications.

Vinod Paul, head of paediatrics and WHO Collaborating Centre for Research in Newborn Care at AIIMS and the only PhD among candidates, also got lower marks - 79 - than both Chawla and Amod Gupta. Paul has a very strong academic record with over 200 publications - 15 in the prestigious British journal, Lancet.

Besides, Paul also invented the drug “Surfactant” to treat respiratory failure in premature babies. The drug is approved for use. His contribution to national and global child health policy is also well-recognised.

GLARING LOOPHOLES

• The four-member sub-panel that prepared the shortlist was not authorised to do so
• The sub-committee had two members lower in scale than the PGI Director, which is against rules