Five deans in three months at Govt Hospital

CHENNAI: Within a span of three months, the Government General Hospital here has had five deans, the last appointment being that of Dr A M Jayaraman. On May 19, the health department posted him as dean, but he will hold office only for 12 days because he is due to retire by the month-end. While heads of departments complain about the lack of an administrative head who can govern for a reasonable period and the resultant "visionless" morass that the hospital has been thrown into, health department officials say that the appointment of deans is an exercise of "honour" to mark the "seniority" of doctors.
"I understand such postings put individual priority ahead of the institution's," admits health secretary V K Subburaj, "But this is what the TN Government Doctors Association has been pleading for. They want doctors in the senior cadre to be given first priority for postings in Chennai, particularly in GH. Though there are no additional monitary retirement benefits, they want their visiting cards and prescription pads to be printed with their names and designations, to indicate they had worked in the hospital as dean. So far, we have accommodated them," he says.
The GH has not had a long-serving head for more than two years now. Dr Kalavathy Ponneraivan who took charge on April 9, 2005 was succeeded after retirement on April 30, 2007 by Dr T P Kalanithi (took charge only on May 22) who retired on February 28, 2009. "He was hardly in the hospital because he had to double up as the director of medical education as well," says a senior surgeon at the hospital.
After Dr Kalanithi, the government posted four doctors Dr M Dhanapal as dean (March 4 to March 31), Dr C Rajendran as in-charge (March 31April 26) and Dr K Gajendran as in-charge (April 27May 19). Dr Jayaraman took over from Dr Gajendran.
"The frequent change of deans is the reason we do not have hospital-based research, policies on morbidity and mortality, or antibiotics. Even day-to-day activity has suffered. For instance, a dean conducts sanitary inspection in the hospital once every week or ten days. It takes at least a month to implement his instructions. By then, there is another dean with another set of instructions," he explains.
Lack of a dean who has held charge for a sufficient period and who can devote time for organisational activity has led to lukewarm celebrations of 175 years of the medical college (celebrations began in January). "By the time we plan an event, the dean is changed and we are forced to repeat the presentations," another senior doctor adds.
According to Dr K Anandakannan, former vice chancellor, Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University, a dean as hospital head takes care of not only administrative duties but also builds a vision for the hospital. "Until some years ago, deans would be posted at least for a year. Those who had less than a year to retire would be posted elsewhere. Today, with the growing demand from private medical colleges, senior doctors want to retire from Chennai. Being in GH increases their market value. They also stand a better chance to be appointed in administrative positions in private colleges," he said.
The state health secretary assures that a policy level decision will be taken soon to avoid slips in administration. But sources in his office reveal that the doctor next in line for the position of dean has only two months from June 1 to retire.