The Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) has refuted the allegations of the Democratic Youth Federation of India relating to hike in procedure charges and appointments.
In a statement here on Friday, institute Director Asha Kishore said the hike in the procedure charges of the institute was never intended to be on an experimental basis. It was the logical culmination of a scientific study conducted by an independent professional agency, whose recommendations were further vetted by external experts from the Government of India and which carried the approval and authentication of the highest decision-making bodies of the institute.
The rate revision in 2016 was only a continuation of the previous charge revisions done over regular intervals to meet the increasing procedure cost.
Concessions not affected
At the same time, the existing concessions to the poor patients were not affected on account of the charge revision and the existing socio-economic categorisation of patients was left unchanged. Expenditure is incurred by the institute for construction or purchase of equipment as per the budget approved by the governing body.
Appointments
The Director also clarified that all appointments to senior level posts, whether permanent, ad hoc or on deputation, carried the approval of the governing body of the institute, which was empowered to do so. The services of some officials were availed by the institute either on an ad hoc basis or on deputation because no internal candidates were available or found suitable for the posts by the Senior Staff Selection Committee.
The latest rank list to the post of staff nurse was published in November 2015 with a validity of 2 years. The same was published on the website and was available for public scrutiny. The last appointment made from the rank list prior to the current one was in October 2013. With the publishing of the new rank list in November 2015, the old rank list had automatically lapsed and all appointments against the vacancies to the said post had been made from the current rank list.
The DYFI’s allegations on corruption in appointments were hence far-fetched, the Director said.
