A probe into the selections made under the National Rural Health Mission in central Kashmir’s Budgam district has revealed that those selected are “dubious degree holders from unrecognized institutions.” Soon after the selection list of NRHM (ISM) doctors and pharmacists for district Budgam appeared in local dailies last month, the unsuccessful candidates raised certain objections about the genuineness of the appointments after which the Commissioner/Secretary Health and Medical Education MK Dwivedi ordered an inquiry into the selection process. The list was issued vide no. CMOB/NRHM/12/3042-47 dated 12/09/2012 The inquiry report prepared by the Director Indian System of Medicine Dr Abdul Kabir Dar revealed that most of the selected candidates including ISM doctors have acquired their degrees from “unrecognized” or “temporarily registered” institutions while those having degrees from recognized institutions have been dropped. “Out of 10 candidates selected as ISM pharmacists, eight have obtained their Ayurvedic Compounder Certificates from Vinayaka Mission University, Tamil Naidu through a Jammu based Madre-e-Meherban Institute of Health Sciences which is not recognized by state government for such courses,” the report said. The report has been corroborated by official documents wherein the Assistant Director, ISM has informed the Commissioner Secretary that Mader-e-Meherban Institute had “neither produced any documentary evidence regarding permissions/NOC of the state government for conducting such courses nor any other institutions or universities offering such ‘Ayurvedic Compounder’ diploma is recognized by the competent authority”. “Even the nomenclature on the certificates does not conform to that of the Department,” the documents read. The documents reveal that soon after the disclosures, the Madr-e-Meherban Institute filed a petition against the State Government “seeking inter-alia directions to recognize the degrees/diplomas issued Vinayak Mission University and IASE University, Rajasthan conferred upon the candidates undergoing Paramedical courses from the petitioner institute in view of affiliation with the (above mentioned) universities.” The Court has asked the department to look into the genuineness of the degrees certificates submitted by the students from institutes like the Madr-e-Meherban Institute. Pertinently, a number of district health societies have issued advertisements for
appointments under the NRHM. However, the advertisement notifications, according to sources, have been issued with dubious nomenclature aimed at benefitting unrecognized institutions.” In one such notification the CMO Budgam uses a wrong nomenclature and skips the genuine statutory body in the requisite qualification column. For pharmacist posts the notice invites applications from “Compounder/pharmacist having diploma in Homeopathy/Ayurvedic/Unani from the institutes recognized by the GOI or certificates course recognized by statutory body constitutional by J&K Govt”. “It is vague terminology used in the notifications,” said a senior health official. “The right term used is ISM pharmacist recognized by the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM), an analogous body of MCI.” Pertinently after the probe report, the Vice-Chairman of District Health Society Budgam Dr Aleemudin has been attached. According to the probe report, the society headed by the District Development Commissioner (DDC) with Chief Medical Officer as its vice chairman “bypassed the expert panel of ISM and NRHM while giving final nod to the selections.” It said the two members, one each of ISM and NHRM, didn’t sign the final award/merit list and despite this it was issued to press.