NEW DELHI, June 24: The prestigious project of setting up of a premier medical institute for para-military forces has run into rough weather with the Home Ministry’s top medical officer raising objections over the manner in which the plan was being executed.
The project, envisaged by Home Minister P Chidambaram on the same lines as that of the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), has seen exchange of many letters with Additional Director General (Medical) B S Pandey finally approaching the Ministry pointing out a number of ambiguities in the over 16,000 crore project called the Central Armed Police Forces Institute of Medical Sciences (CAPFIMS).
ADG Pandey, who supervises the chain of health care services for the over 8-lakh central paramilitary forces personnel, has written a three-page letter to Special Secretary (Internal Security) Ajay Chadha with a copy to Union Home Secretary R K Singh for their intervention.
Pandey has also asked for the removal of the project consultant, also his predecessor to the ADG post—Dr R S Rathore as he has “no experience of raising such projects” as he suggested that the project should be outsourced to a PSU under the Union Health Ministry.
Chidambaram had announced the Union Cabinet’s approval for creation of this much-awaited institute on December 30 last year.
At present, there is no single specialised medical college for the central forces troopers and hence they all have separate tie-ups with different hospitals across the country to obtain medical care for their personnel.
“I am happy to announce a major decision of the Cabinet taken at its meeting on December 22, 2011. The Cabinet gave its in-principle approval for the establishment of a Central Armed Police Forces Institute of Medical Sciences, a 500-bed general hospital, a 300-bed super speciality hospital, a nursing college and a school of paramedics,” Chidambaram had declared.
The Home Minister had said that the project, when completed, “will fulfil a long-felt need of the Central Armed Police Forces for a world class tertiary medical centre as well as for an assured stream of doctors, nurses and paramedics for induction into the forces”.
Sources privy to the development said because of the turf-war in executing plans for this institute, no meetings or proposals are moving forward even after six months the ambitious project was announced.
“ADG (medical) office is of the opinion that raising of CAPFIMS…Is a very ambitious and very expensive project of the Ministry of Home Affairs. It is a multi-faceted project which needs administrative supervision like getting recognition from the Medical Council of India, Nursing Council of India, recognition from a Delhi based University, permission of Government of India and that of Delhi government among others.
“It will also require technical supervision like construction of building, parameters to be followed for preparing different departments like Radiology, Cardiology, Neurology, provision of breathing space, checking of building material…It also requires financial supervision also as it involves expenditure running in hundreds of crores,” ADG Pandey said in his letter to Special Secretary Chadha accessed by PTI.
He has alternatively suggested that HSCC, a mini-ratna PSU under the Ministry of Health, should be given the task to take the project forward.
“HSCC has versatile capabilities to provide all kinds of logistic input to implement such huge projects. Consultant Medical Officer (referring to Dr Rathore) is not the right person to supervise the project as doctors/specialists government and private hospital requisite services of such consultancy to execute such projects. Once project is completed then professional work starts.
“Therefore, ADG (Medical) office suggests that instead of appointing a person having no experience of raising such projects, this can be given to HSCC run by experts in all the above mentioned fields,” Pandey said.
The ADG also has questioned the motives and circumstances that led to the appointment of Rathore as the project consultant for the CAPFIMS after he retired as ADG (Medical) in November last year, which he was appointed after getting an earlier extension on the post.
Rathore remained unavailable for comment despite calls and SMS sent in this regard.
The CAPFIMS, which will come up in South Delhi, will cater to the jawans and officers of the CRPF, BSF, ITBP, CISF, SSB, NSG and Assam Rifles who are deployed to render a variety of internal security and border guarding duties. (PTI)
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