RGUHS V-C selection in a mess

Kumaran P. | NT
Bengaluru, Nov. 1

The appointment of a full-time permanent vice-chancellor for Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) has been hanging fire for a few months now.

The state government had constituted a search committee, but it itself does not have eligible members to choose a medical professional, allege experts.

The selection panel has omitted the senior-most Dean and a highly qualified person at netas bidding. The university had notified for appointment in June this year. “The state government had constituted a search committee nominating two technically qualified members (one of them being a chairman) and one medical professional, as members to recommend three names of medical professionals who suit the requirement as per the University Grants Commission guidelines and regulations,” said an expert.

As per the records, the chairman of this committee was Professor Vidyashankar, who is currently the V-C of Karnataka State Open University (KSOU). The expert said that in order to assess the suitability of any candidate to the post of V-C RGUHS, one needs to understand the contribution of every applicant to the fields of Health and Medical Education. Normally a medical professional of good reputation will be capable of doing it.”

Another expert from the medical education department said, “The two members of the search committee are not medical professionals and were not suitable and capable to assess the contribution of applicants to the fields of Health and Medical Education.”

There was also a demand that the current search committee should be abolished and the chairman should be replaced with an eminent medical professional from outside the State, to ensure fairness. However, the Search Committee was not modified and it met on October 7, 2021 to finalise three names.

The committee has reportedly shortlisted two dental professionals and one medical professional. According to the information accessed by NT, the three names are: Dr Jayakara Shetty, in-charge V-C of RGUHS who is a dentist, Sabitha, another dentist from Kidwai hospital and Dr M.K. Ramesh, from the National Medical Council who was a HoD of Surgery in Victoria hospital and two times in-charge V-C of RGUHS previously.

Interestingly, Dr C.R. Jayanthi, director-cum-dean of Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI), has been dropped to favour other candidates.