SHILLONG, OCT 31: Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda has assured the Khasi Students Union that a committee will be set up to examine policy matters at NEIGRIHMS and that no recruitment will be done till all issues are resolved, KSU general secretary Reuben Najiar said on Saturday.
Najiar, who was part of the KSU delegation that met Nadda in Delhi, said the minister assured to resolve the matter within a month.
“The Union Health Minister has assured us that he will set up a committee to look into the various policy matters because there are some legal aspects as well that they want to look into when it comes to reservation and other aspects and based on his assurance he stated that he will try to resolve this matter within a month,” Najiar said.
“From the Union side, we would like to thank the Union Minister in that regard,” he said.
He added, “As he had assured us that he would look into the matter, he will set up a committee that will be looking into the reservation in NEIGRIHMS and the INI status and various other aspects which are legal in nature and as far as the recruitment is concerned, he has stated that there will be no recruitment until all these issues are being resolved.”
“We have mentioned to him that it has been 17 months that this issue has been pending and the recruitment has not been carried forward and this has impacted the health sector but he has also assured that he will fast track this matter and he has already had a governing council meeting in the last week with the NEIGRIHMS authority and hopefully all these issues will be resolved within a month and we can go forward with the recruitment process in NEIGRIHMS,” Najiar said.
In its memorandum to Nadda, KSU flagged eight core issues that it said had downgraded the premier institute.
The Union sought restoration of 80:20 female to male ratio for Nursing Officers, citing the 2023 NORCET recruitment where 175 of 194 selected were male nurses, many without experience and facing complaints of incompetence. It cited Central Administrative Tribunal ruling in Ranveer Singh vs Union of India validating 80% female reservation under Article 15(3).
It also demanded removal of mandatory 2-year experience from 50-bedded hospitals, saying most PHCs and CHCs in Meghalaya do not have 50 beds and local nurses would become ineligible.
KSU accused the administration of shielding male Nursing Officers involved in molestation cases, including one involving a minor girl booked under POCSO Act, and said lack of female staff led to such incidents. It said male staff even protested in support of the accused inside the campus.
Other demands included restoration of upper age limit to 35 years from 30 years for Nursing Officers and 27 years for Pharmacists, scrapping CBT/NORCET through outsourced agency HLL alleging malpractice and lack of computer centres in Meghalaya, removal of excess EWS backlog vacancies, and correction of OBC and SC reservation.
“Meghalaya does not recognise any OBC in the State. So question arises how did NEIGRIHMS advertise for OBC posts,” KSU said, citing Supreme Court judgments in Bir Singh vs Delhi Jal Board and MCD vs Veena that migrants cannot claim SC/ST/OBC status in another state.
It further urged the Centre to grant Institute of National Importance status to NEIGRIHMS to ensure academic and administrative autonomy on the lines of AIIMS and PGIMER.
