OMC doctors clash over appointment of HoD

HYDERABAD: Two groups of government doctors allegedly clashed at Osmania Medical College (OMC) in Koti on Thursday over appointment of the head of surgery department. After receiving the news, Sultan Bazar police to rush to the scene to prevent any untoward incident.
Though no official complaint was lodged against any doctor, sources said that a police team from Sultan Bazar rushed to the spot after a group of government doctors led by Dr Putla Srinivas left the office of OMC principal Dr Aruna Ramaiah on Thursday afternoon.
When another group of doctors led by Telangana government doctors' association (TGDA) state president Dr Pallam Praveen reached the spot to register their grievance with the principal, they objected to police presence in the medical college campus.
"I did not call the police. They were informed by outsiders," said Dr Aruna Ramaiah, OMC principal, adding that the two factions of government doctors were engaged in a war of words over who should be appointed as head of surgery department in Osmania General Hospital (OGH). Sources said that the OMC principal's office order appointing Dr Deen Dayal Bung, professor of general surgery, OGH, as head of the department (HoD) of surgery department on August 19 turned into a bone of contention after the outgoing HoD Dr B Nagender was asked to hand over the charges to the former.
Two days later, another official order recalled Dr B Nagender as HoD, leading to a hue and cry from TGDA over violation of NTR Health varsity rules that calls for rotation of HoDs in medical colleges every two years among senior professors.
"There are clear rules framed by NTR Health varsity's academic senate in 2013 that say that every two years, HoDs should be rotated among existing professors, who have a minimum three years of experience," said Dr Pallam Praveen, while supporting the posting of Dr Deen Dayal Bung as the new HoD. The appointment orders of Dr Nagender show that he took over as HoD of surgery department from his predecessor Dr K Sreedhar Rao in 2013.