Move to foist outsider at NIMS

Mango

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posted on 13 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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HYDERABAD: Questions are being asked about the manner in which the government is going about picking a new director for the Nizam..

HYDERABAD: Questions are being asked about the manner in which the government is going about picking a new director for the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS).Even as chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, also the chancellor of NIMS, is grappling with the issue, the institute’s faculty has made it clear they will not accept an outsider as head of the hospital.The entire process has come under scrutiny right from the start when the three-member search panel took an unusual step: it invited applications from all comers. Usually, search panels set up to select nominees for such important posts (the NIMS director has the status of vice-chancellor) do the search themselves rather than expect persons of eminence to apply.From among the 30 who did so, including seven from NIMS, the search panel headed by health minister D L Ravindra Reddy is understood to have shortlisted three: two outsiders and one insider. Of the two outsiders, one is said to have the minister’s backing and the other the supporter of a senior CMO official. Drug companies and equipment suppliers too are said to be playing a role in the selection.This has raised the hackles of the NIMS faculty. At a meeting of the faculty association last week, it was resolved that the choice be from within. “Everyone says NIMS has become a hive of corruption and that its efficiency is at a nadir. The blame lies squarely with all those who have previously headed the institute, a majority of them outsiders. How would it help if an outsider is picked again,’’ asked a faculty member who did not wish to be quoted.The faculty also demand that research experience, apart from administrative capabilities, be considered while picking the nominee as NIMS is a deemed university.Intriguingly, the search panel has not considered it fit to consult the NIMS in-charge director, Prashant Mahapatra, an IAS officer who has been holding the fort for almost six months. Insiders say Mahapatra has taken several significant initiatives since he took charge and his inputs would have helped.