In the Same Scam, Datia Medical College Dean Has Been Removed

BHOPAL / Gwalior of Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday  saw an alarming rise in COVID-19 infections with 584 new cases. How will the JAH group of hospitals tackle the surge of the pandemic, while its dean allegedly operates his private hospital in the city and engages in saving himself from a massive scam?

According to reliable sources, the dean of Gajra Raja Medical College(GRMC), Dr. Sameer Gupta allegedly runs a 150-bedded ‘Link Hospital’, the largest private hospital in the Gwalior-Chambal region, owned by his wife Subeera Gupta. Gupta is allegedly involved too in a massive nurse recruitment scam. GRMC professor Jitendra Agrawal”s wife Rekha is also a partner in the hospital.

GRMC runs JAH (Jaya Aarogya Hospital) under the Department of Medical Education (ME), is the largest and well facilitated and equipped hospital of the Gwalior and Chambal divisions, it is around a 1200-bedded health care center in the region. It has successfully tackled the first and the second waves of the covid-19 pandemic when Dr SN Iyenger was the dean of the college.

Around 278 in GRMC Gwalior and 222 in Datia medical college staff nurses have been recruited through an exam conducted by MP Online. Both the medical colleges have given appointments to the applicants while ignoring the rules and regulations made for reserved categories by the general administration department and the guidelines of the MP high court. The matter came to light in the internal audit of the medical education (ME) department.

Additional chief secretary ME had instructed the commissioner of ME to examine the documents in the matter. The CME had found irregularities in the rules and regulations made for reserved categories.  The CME had written to the divisional commissioner Gwalior, who is also an ex officio chairman of the autonomous committee for both the medical colleges, to inquire the matter on the basis of deciding the reasons for the irregularities, options for corrections, and the accountability.

Divisional commissioner Ashis Saxena has appointed deputy commissioner M C Verma and assistant commissioner Sapna Nigam as the inquiry officers for Gwalior and Datia medical colleges respectively in the matter.

On the basis of the report of the inquiry officer, the Datia dean has been removed by the government and stayed the recruitment of nursing, paramedical and non-education staff till further order while the chief executive officer (dean) of GRMC has not been eliminated yet in the same matter. Sources also said that commissioner Saxena is shielding Gupta, for this reason, the report of GRMC is still pending.

Saxena gave a funny comment to The Sun Today while telling about the matter, “you know well, panchayat polls reservation is pending before honorable Supreme Court, so I cannot say anything about staff nurse recruitment in which rules pertaining to reserve categories have been breached by the colleges’ committees”. However, he realized that some errors have been made in reservation rules in both colleges. Action will be taken against the culprits, he said.

The sources also said that a huge transaction has been made in this alleged corruption by Gwalior dean Gupta and the then dean of Datia medical college Dr. Rajesh Gour.

According to sources, the appointment orders of staff nurses, paramedical staff, and scientists, have been released without taking the signatures of all the members of recruitment and scrutinizing committees. Ironically, the representative of the divisional commissioner has not been taken her signature.

GRMC dean Gupta has given an irresponsible response in the reply. He wrote that leftovers who were not selected even after they secured high marks due to make irregularity in reserved categories lists, would be given a chance on a priority basis by 2029.