M A I N   N E W S

S.K. Sharma new PGI Director
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Jan 5 — Dr S.K. Sharma, Head of the Department of Urology, PGI, will be the next Director of the institute. A decision to this effect was taken today during a meeting of the selection committee chaired by the Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Mr N.T. Shanmugam. Soon after, it was approved by the institute body of the PGI.

Dr Sharma, who has been with the PGI for over three decades, would succeed Dr B.K. Sharma, who retired in November. Dr N.K. Ganguly, Director-General of the ICMR, was thereafter given officiating charge by the Union Government.

Confirming Dr Sharma’s appointment on the condition of anonymity, a member of the selection committee told TNS here on Wednesday that the final approval on his appointment would be made by the Cabinet Committee on Appointments (CCA).

Sources in the Health Ministry said the CCA normally meets within four weeks of such a decision, depending on the convenience of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister.

The selection committee comprised the Union Health Secretary, Mr Javed Ahmed Chaudhary, the President of the Medical Council of India, Dr Ketan Desai, the Vice-Chancellor of Bombay University, Dr Deshmukh, the Director-General, Health Services, Dr S.P. Aggarwal, the officiating Director of the PGI, Dr N.K. Ganguly, and the Director of the National Board of Examination, Dr Raj Shekhar.

The sources in the Health Ministry said the institute body of the PGI which met today gave its concurrence on the selection of Dr Sharma. The PGI institute body comprises 15 members, including the Vice Chancellor of Panjab University, Dr M.M. Puri and a former Director of the PGI, Dr I.C. Pathak. Members of the institute body are nominated by the Health Minister, who is also the Chairperson of the institute and the Prime Minister’s Office.

The sources further said the lone absentee from the institute body meeting was Dr K. Subba Rao of the Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad.

Dr N.K. Ganguly who is likely to retain his original post as Director-General of the Indian Council of Medical Research, said although he held the officiating charge for a brief period, he had some plans for the institute.

He told TNS that he would ensure that none of the important plans and projects were stopped till the new Director assumed charge.

“I would try to get certain projects cleared. These included the shifting of out-patient department and putting in place the expenditure and finance committees to regulate the finances of the Cardio-Vascular Centre of Trauma and the Centre of Opthalmology.’’

Dr Ganguly said he would put a proposal before the Ministry to increase the budgetary allocation for the PGI.

He said treatment of communicable and lifestyle-related diseases, prevention of cancer, rehabilitation of the disabled, health-delivery system and instrumentation were the areas that would get priority. “The ICMR has a committee for recommending alternative systems of medicine. The PGI has started a pain clinic recently. I am keen that some clinical trials for traditional plant-based medicines are undertaken by the PGI.

Sixth from Amritsar, first from HP
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 5 — Born on March 30,1942, Prof Surender Kumar Sharma is an alumnus of Government Medical College, Amritsar. After his Masters in Surgery from the PGI in 1967 , he went to All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, for his M.Ch. in Urology. After seven years at the AIIMS, he returned to the PGI in 1975 and joined here as a lecturer in Urology. For one year, he went to the UK on a Commonwealth Medical Fellowship in 1981. In July, 1983, he was promoted Assistant Professor. Though he was made the head while still an assistant professor in 1987, he was promoted as Professor and Head, Department of Urology, in May, 1988.

Between May, 1993, and September,1994, Professor Sharma was a professor in Hospital Administration-cum-Medical Superintendent of Nehru Hospital, PGI. Winner of the Dr B.C. Roy National Award in 1996, Professor Sharma has also been a recipient of several other awards, including President's Gold Medal of the Urological Society of India (1998), besides Dr P.N. Kataria Memorial Oration, Dr A.N. Gaikwad Memorial Oration, Dr V.N. Singh Memorial Oration, and Dr Pinnamaneni Venkateswara Rao Endowment Lecture Award.

A member of the postgraduate studies of Banaras Hindu University and Punjabi University, Patiala, he belongs to the select band of PGI directors like Dr Tulsi Dass, Dr S.S. Anand, Dr P.N. Chuttani, Dr I.C. Pathak and Dr B.K. Sharma, who were graduates from Government Medical College, Amritsar.

He is perhaps the first one from Himachal Pradesh to become Director of the PGI. He belongs to Palampur.