Hire locals at Deoghar AIIMS: J’khand CM writes to Union health minister

RANCHI: Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren has written to Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya suggesting him to review recruitment at the newly set up All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Deoghar district and ensure that locals are given preference in hiring at the premier health institution.

In his letter to the Union minister, Soren underlined that his government was legislating law to provide 75% reservation to locals in the private sector, and the Union goverment should also promote giving jobs to locals at the said institute.

“We have introduced the Jharkhand State Employment of Local Candidates Bill, 2021, wherein there is a 75% reservation in private sector jobs with salary of up to ₹30,000. Unfortunately, it has come to my attention that 90% of the security personnel at AIIMS-Deoghar are from outside the state of Jharkhand. This is not conducive to the public good. AIIMS Deoghar should be hiring locally as far as possible so that they get employees, who better understand the community they serve. In this way AIIMS-Deoghar would also contribute to the economic upliftment of the region,” Soren’s letter reads.

The new campus of the state’s first AIIMS, that is coming up in Devipur area in temple town Deoghar, is yet to be inaugurated. The premier health institution in tribal-dominated Santhal Parganas division has, however, started its outpatient department (OPD) in a temporary building.

The OPD building at the new campus was to be inaugurated earlier this month, but was postponed after controversy started over physical presence of local BJP MP Nishikant Dubey at the inauguration event due to Covid-19 restrictions.