State government transfers paediatrician from Mumbai hospital to Nagpur to fill vacant post of anaesthetist

Kids' doc sent to anaesthetist post

State government transfers paediatrician from Mumbai hospital to Nagpur to fill vacant post of anaesthetist

Should a gynaecologist treat your arthritis or a neurosurgeon deliver your baby? May be such finer distinctions were too much for the state government to grasp as it transferred a paediatrician to the vacant post of an anaesthetist.
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Now there are people speaking in whispers that the transfer was made as a favour to the doctor.

Dr Vinita Jain, working as a paediatrician with St George Hospital in Mumbai for several years, was transferred to Daaga Smruti Hospital in Nagpur, where an anaesthetist's post is vacant.

Jain claimed she had no knowledge of the post she would hold in Nagpur.

But the transfer order dated May 31 and signed by Deputy Health Secretary V R Vedpathak that was faxed to the hospital on July 3 (a copy of the order is with MiD DAY) makes it clear that she will occupy the post of anaesthetist. Jain said she was yet to see the transfer order.

Transfer a favour?
The doctor is one among hundreds of medical officers working in urban medical colleges who have been transferred to rural areas by the state in a decision taken 10 days ago.

A member of Maharashtra Gazetted Medical Officers Organisation (MAGMO) alleged that the posting was a favour to the paediatrician as she wanted to be in Nagpur.

"It's illogical. If you need a ward boy, will you hire a nurse? Using the same logic, if some hospital needs an anaesthetist, why would you transfer a paediatrician to the hospital?" said the MAGMO member, requesting anonymity. "Either there is some gross error in carrying out transfers or some facts have been conveniently overlooked."

MAGMO president Mahadev Chinchole said the state was desperate to fill vacant posts.

"This particular case shows the desperation of the state to fill vacant posts. How can a paediatrics doctor fill in the post of an anaesthetist? What will the doctor practise at that hospital, paediatrics or anaesthetics?" said Chinchole. "And if a doctor will not be able to fulfil the requirement, what is the point in sending him or her to a new posting?"

'Nothing unusual'
Dr T P Lahane, dean of JJ Group of Hospitals and in-charge of state-run hospitals, said there was nothing unusual in the transfer order.

"Her transfer to the vacant post of anaesthesist doesn't mean she will work as an anaesthetist instead of as a paediatrician. It is just that the post vacant at that hospital was of an anaesthetist, which is why orders have been issued in that manner," he said.

Asked why Jain was not transferred to a hospital where she would be able to hold the post of a paediatrician, he said transfers were not in his hands but done by officials of the Health Ministry.

Jain said she only had a letter from Lahane and was not clear about the post she would be holding in Nagpur.

"All I know is that I have been transferred to Nagpur, but to which vacant post I do not know. I haven't received the transfer order, only a letter sent to me by state hospitals in-charge Dr T P Lahane informing me about the decision," said Jain. "I haven't gone through the details of it yet."

She refused to comment on whether she would accept the vacant post of anaesthetist.