Nurse recruitment controversy: Uneasy situations in BSMMU

Police officers take position outside the Louvre museum in Paris on Friday.
Police officers take position outside the Louvre museum in Paris on Friday.
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Reza Mahmud :
Physicians, Nurses and officials of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University are more active to serve the interests of the Vice-Chancellor and the Pro Vice-Chancellor than taking care of the thousands of patients, who go there everyday from different parts of the country.
The two top bosses of the university have taken position against each other over recruitment of nurses, sources said. The patients get no proper treatment there, and classes are not held regularly.  
 “There is no chain of command in the BSMMU at present. The VC Dr. Kamrul Hasan Khan with outsiders on his side is showing muscle to the doctors and officials there,” said Pro-Vice Chancellor (Education) Professor Dr. Zakaria Swapan yesterday.
Neutral Sources accused the supporters of the VC and the Pro-VC (Education) for creation of tension centering recruitment of 200 senior staff nurses in BSMMU recently.
A large number of the doctors and the officials of the BSMMU said that few officials loyal to the VC were about to recruit a large number of nurses from Ghatail Upazila of Tangail, the home district of the VC.
They alleged that the candidates from Ghatail Upazila had the blessings of Professor Dr. Kamrul Hasan Khan.
After publishing of the results of the recruitment test, anger spread among those who are loyal to Dr. Zakaria Swapan. They started altercation with the VC and Proctor Dr. Habibur Rahman Dulal in a meeting in January 19 in the BSMMU. Dr. Zakaria Swapan’s supporters alleged that the VC and the Proctor have physically assaulted the Pro-VC. But the VC rejected the allegation.
The two groups of the teachers and officials organised rallies and counter- rallies on the campus.
In this circumstances, the syndicate meeting of the university on January 28 refrained from approving recruitment of 200 senior staff nurses. The meeting decided that the BSMMU will recruit 200 nurses on ad hoc basis and additional 300 later on.
 “The vested quarter is trying to recruit those nurses who are from Tangail,” a senior official of BSMMU said.
Dr. Zakaria Swapan said that Health Minister Mohammad Nasim recently summoned him in a meeting. They discussed on the issue and decided to recruit nurses as per the criteria.
“If any quarter tries to recruit nurses ignoring the fair process it will not be okayed,” he said.
In this situation the atmosphere of the BSMMU are now explosive. Tensions prevail between the two groups.
Some officials said, “The situation is not calm. We fear fresh clash,” said one of the senior officials preferring anonymity.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr. Kamrul Hasan Khan said, “The university is developing during my administration. But some quarters do not want it. They are engineering conspiracy to make BSMMU instable.”
Sources said, the tensions are not from the nurses recruitment issue only, there are some other reasons. Officials said, BSMMU invited a tender amounting to Tk five crore to computarise the university recently. As per the rules of the university, Pro-VC (Education) was supposed to be the chief of the purchasing committee, but it was not followed.
On the other hand, recently the university administration opposed the Pro-VC when he tried to buy a precious equipment for the cancer department of the university. The Pro-VC and his loyalists think that the VC is hindering the process.
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