After high court stay on transfer, Amritsar GMC nodal officer suspended

AMRITSAR : The state medical research and education department on Saturday suspended Government Medical College (GMC) medicine department head and Covid-19 nodal officer Dr Shiv Charan from his duties after the doctor secured a court stay on his transfer order.

Medical education and research principal secretary DK Tiwari on July 1 had transferred Dr Charan to Government Medical College, Patiala, citing that the decision had been taken in view of the increase in Covid-19 deaths at GMC Amritsar.

However, Dr Charan appealed to Punjab and Haryana high court and secured stay orders on his transfer and joined his duty again at GMC Amritsar on July 9.

Following the stay orders, Tiwari issued a fresh notice on July 11 which reads, “Dr Shiv Charan’s working at the hospital remained unsatisfactory and he did not take required actions after Coid-19 deaths were continuously being reported. The department had issued a showcause notice to him on April 18, as he was not following the state’s guidelines. But he did not submit his reply.”

“Also, he was not coordinating with his seniors. Dr Shiv Charan will now perform the assigned duties at Amritsar Dental College,” the notice adds. Reportedly, Dr Charan was the main complainant in the alleged personal protection equipment (PPE) kits scam, the inquiry for which is in process.the alleged purchase scam surfaced in April when doctors, nurses and other medical staff at the hospital refused to use the 2,000 kits saying they were substandard and did not have N-95 masks. They had also accused the authorities of paying around ₹41 lakh for the kits, which according to them should not have cost more than ₹7 lakh. Dr Charan had complained to then GMC principal Dr Sujata Sharma and said the kits were substandard and not fit for use.