Mystery surrounds Kulbhushan Jadhav’s medical certificate
Questions are being raised on why a German doctor working in Dubai went to Islamabad after taking leave and issued a medical certificate.
Railway Board chairman and former Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani wants to emulate the dynamic fare system followed by airlines in Railways.
The Railway Ministry is planning to introduce the dynamic pricing system, which is being offered by airlines and hotels in premium trains—Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto— by replacing the existing flexi-fare system.
Accordingly, the fare may be discounted in case the train is not fully booked. In the case of airlines and hotels, first the prices are low, then the prices go up and then later the passengers get discounts on the remaining seats/rooms if these remain unoccupied.
The government believes that though revenue increased following the introduction of the flexi-fare system, the Railways lost many passengers as several berths remained vacant. At times, railway fares are almost the same, or in some cases even lower, than airfares. As a result, a large number of passengers have started taking flights instead of trains.
Though premium train passengers account for only 0.35% of all passengers who travel by train in a year, their share in passenger revenues is 13-14%.
The Lohani-headed Railway Board has set up a six-member committee to review the existing flexi-fare system. It will examine all options and recommend the best options keeping in mind passengers and railways’ interest, said a Ministry official.
The committee consists of Railway Board officials along with NITI Aayog advisor Ravinder Goyal, Air India ED Meenakshi Malik, rransport economics professor S. Sriram and revenue director of Le Meridian, Iti Mani.
A 1980-batch Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers alumnus, Lohani took over as Railway Board chairman in August this year.
The Ministry had launched the flexi-fare system in September 2016, which led to an increase in fares up to 50%. Under this system, the fare increases from 10% to 50% with every 10% of the berths booked. The committee is going through the impact of implementation of the flexi-fare system in terms of the revenue generated, impact on passengers in terms of their choice of the railways as a means of transport with increased fare.
The Railway Board has also asked the committee to look into ways to offer add-ons to passengers like loyalty benefits or deferred benefits for better patronage of the scheme, the official said, adding, it will also explore if some amendments can be brought into the existing flexi-fare system to offer passengers flexibility of rates during the peak season, lean season or during the weekdays or weekends or festivals.
Depending upon the committee’s recommendations, the Railways may start offering discounts on tickets if trains were not fully booked.
The official said the existing flexi-fare system is only meant for price increase.
“However, just like airlines and hotels, where a passenger gets a discount at the last minute, the railways can also offer discounts on routes which have low occupancy, in order to attract passengers,” he added. The medical report of Kulbhushan Jadhav, which was released by the Pakistan government, has raised questions instead of convincing the international community that the former Indian naval officer, accused by Pakistan of espionage, had not been tortured in captivity.
The report dated 22 December was released hours after Jadhav’s mother and wife met him in Islamabad. It was published on the letterhead of the Saudi German Hospital, Dubai by one Dr UWE Johannes Nellesen, who has been described as a “Senior Consultant: Trauma, Plastic, and Orthopedic surgery”.
The Sunday Guardian reached out to Dr Uwe at least 20 times since 25 December on his personal mobile number through calls and WhatsApp messages, seeking his response in the Jadhav case. However, Dr Uwe, who joined the Saudi German Hospital in late 2013 following a stint as a general surgeon in Essen, Germany, ignored the queries, although he had read the WhatsApp messages and was “online”. He did not reply to an e-mail enquiry sent by this reporter.
The Sunday Guardian wanted to know: (i) Where did you medically examine Mr Kulbhushan Jadhav? (ii) When was this medical examination conducted? (iii) Were you contacted by the Pakistan government to carry out the examination? Why were you called? (iv) How was Mr Jadhav? Did he tell/ask you anything? And (v) You have said “no major injuries”. Does that mean “minor injuries” were there? Of what kind?
As per the official records, Dr Uwe studied medicine from the Western German city of Duesseldorf and later from the University of Hamburg.
The Sunday Guardian also contacted the Saudi German Hospital, Dubai, where Dr Uwe is presently employed. As per official sources, Dr Uwe is on leave until 3 January 2018 and would be joining back on 4 January.
The Ministry of External Affairs did not respond to the newspaper’s query regarding whether they would contact the government of UAE, where the hospital is located.
When this newspaper contacted the hospital on 28 December, the hospital staff said that Dr Uwe was on leave “since the last one week” (since 21 December).
Speaking to this newspaper on the medical certificate issued by Dr Uwe, a staff in the media department of the Saudi German Hospital said, “We have no knowledge of any such medical certificate being issued. We cannot comment on this further.”
On further inquiry, this reporter was told that the “health record department” of the hospital looks after the documents related to the patients and queries should be directed to Dr Asma. However, when the newspaper approached Dr Asma, head of the health record department, she hung up the call on learning it the inquiry is being made by a mediaperson from India. She did not take any further calls despite repeated attempts.
Questions are being raised about why a German doctor, who is working in Dubai, went to Islamabad after taking leave and issued a medical certificate in such a sensitive matter on the letterhead of the hospital where he was working and why the doctor was avoiding media queries. (Inputs from Areeba Falak)