Express News Service
BHUBANESWAR: As the grand plans of the State authorities to arrange a full-fledged extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) unit at SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack, for remedy of extraordinarily vital COVID and normal sufferers has gained momentum, a weird scenario has come to the fore.
The authorities has posted a professor of Medicine in opposition to a emptiness within the division of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery (CTVS), a specialised surgical self-discipline. The ECMO unit is ready to be established within the CTVS division.
Sources mentioned whereas one submit of professor, two affiliate professors and assistant professors of the CTVS are mendacity vacant since 2015, professor in drugs Dr Jayanta Panda was posted in opposition to the vacant submit of professor within the division final 12 months.
Dr Panda, who although works as the top of division of General Medicine, attracts his wage in opposition to the professor of CTVS by just about blocking the submit. While the CTVS division has been struggling with out minimal college and surgeons, such an association has raised eyebrows.
The CTVS division, which is already overburdened with a minimum of 15 bypass surgical procedures a month, would be the nodal division of the ECMO unit. Since there is no such thing as a one within the rank of affiliate professor since lengthy, there’s hardly any risk that anybody will likely be promoted to the rank of professor in a minimum of subsequent 5 years.
Prof of Medicine posted in opposition to emptiness in Cardiothoracic Surgery division
“Not only the post of professor which has been vacant for the last six years, no appointment has been made against the posts of two associate professors. Of the three assistant professors’ posts, one is regular and another is contractual. The other one is vacant,” sources mentioned.
Hospital sources mentioned that Dr Panda’s case shouldn’t be an remoted one however a standard course of. “In fact, the posting orders are written very cleverly to run the show. In this case, Dr Panda is posted to SCB MCH as a professor. He is allowed to work as professor in the department of general medicine and draw salary from any vacant position in the MCH. Since there was a vacancy of his cadre in the CTVS department, he is drawing his salary from there,” mentioned an official of the MCH.
DMET director Dr CBK Mohanty mentioned there was nothing unsuitable within the posting of Dr Panda. “The government is trying hard to fill up the vacancies in the CTVS department. But there have been no applicants. The government has also allowed lateral entry in the post of professor but has got no response. Most of the cardio-vascular surgeons in the country are employed with corporate hospitals with fat salaries. No one interested in government hospitals,” he mentioned.
