Shillong, Dec 21: The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) on Thursday requested the health minister Ampareen Lyngdoh to intervene into the recent recruitment in the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS).
In a letter to Lyngdoh, KSU president Lambokstarwell Marngar said the selection of 194 vacant posts of Nursing Officer against Advertisement dated 25.08.2023 conducted by AIIMS, New Delhi through NORCET-5 in which 175 posts of Nursing Officer were allotted to male candidates and only 19 females candidates were selected and to the utter dismay of the Union, only a handful of approximately 15 candidates who were selected belongs to the indigenous tribal community of the State.
“Nursing is a profession which has been uphold by majority of females since the time of inception and which is duly followed by other prestigious medical institutes whereby the ratio of female to male nurses are 80:20 respectively but it saddens to see that it is completely opposite in NEIGRIHMS,” he said while adding “Moreover, all the candidates which have been selected have little or no experience at all as most of them have only cleared their theoretical examination from their respective institutes with no real practical experience to back them up and this will affect the health services which will be rendered out to the public.”
Marngar said the Group B and C recruitment which is going on and this examination was conducted by an agency with the nomenclature HLL through CBT mode.
“It was observed that a large number of the local indigenous candidates were not able to appear for the examination as the centres for examination were allotted in Guwahati, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Delhi. This again has devoid the opportunity for local indigenous candidates of the State. Moreover, this very agency for the post of Record Clerk, has set up questions in Hindi language going beyond the specific guidelines and syllabus,” he said.
He added that the Union find it bogus and phony that candidates from Meghalaya needs to give their examination in other States for recruitment of post(s) in the State itself and this is not the first time that this has happened and the Union cannot allow it to be a precedence in the near future.
“All these incidents done by the agency has led to ill feeling among the local indigenous candidates that this is done by specific instructions from some authorities to allot these posts to other people from other states and to devoid the indigenous tribal of their rightful opportunities,” he said.
Marngar also alleged that the Union has come to learn that the selection/screening committee are being coerced to publish and send out appointment letters hastily to the candidates who has passed the examination without formally verifying the proper documentation and following the due procedures. This may lead in selection of an undeserved candidate or may create room for favouritism and nepotism. The Union is of the opinion that appointment letters must only be given once all the procedures are duly followed.
“Thus, the Union would like to question the appropriate authorities as to whether NORCET examination for the Nursing Officers and CBT examination conducted by the agency HLL for Group B and C is beneficial for the indigenous tribal of the State and the healthcare services for the people of the State and the public at large. With so much lapse and incompetency, the healthcare services rendered by NEIGRIHMS is surely going to decline drastically,” he warned.
Further, Marngar said that the Union is of the opinion that, in the near future any recruitment must be done and conducted by NEIGRIHMS itself to avoid any discrepancies and that the local indigenous tribes of the State are given equal and fair opportunities.
He also reiterated the stand of the union that appointment for the ongoing Group B and C posts must be given only after due procedures and verification is completed.
