This blog is in continuation of my earlier blog ‘The Internship Muddle’. You will recall MCI already had condoned thirty days of internship. However, we still had to complete remaining days to be eligible for house-jobs. The house-jobs used to begin dot on January 1 and July 1, twice every year but our class was ineligible as we still had to complete our internship. Under these circumstances the seniors from remanded (Supplementary) batch and candidates from other medical colleges were eyeing creamy house jobs (Medicine, Surgery, O&G, and Pediatrics etc.). They had to be blocked at every cost to avoid plunder of house-jobs of which we were lawful claimants. But this was not going to be an easy task.
The medical superintendent (MS) of SGTB Hospital (the recruiting authority) had already issued the advertisement and date of interview had been fixed. The students of remanded batch (approximately 45 in number) were drooling over these creamy house-jobs. If the interview was held on appointed date, they would have grabbed almost all of them and we would have got only the leftovers vacancies. You will recall the total number of house-jobs including seasonal and unpaid ones was 120. The interview had to be postponed till we became eligible.
The key to this riddle was with Mr. G Balakrishnan IAS, the then Principal Secretary Health and Medical Education. However, he needed to be convinced about our claim over these house-jobs. We had already met him a couple of times earlier during internship condonement campaign. When we met him to seek postponement of interview for the house-jobs his initial response was in negative. He said that the hospital could not function without house-surgeons for two weeks. We needed a strong case to convince him.
We came up with ‘son-of-the-soil’ theory. We told him these house-jobs were meant for graduates of GMC Amritsar and as the regular batch we were the rightful claimants and graduates of other colleges were eligible for only leftover seats, if any. We would also receive the same treatment for that matter if we go to GMC Patiala. He agreed in principle with our contention but it did not take away the claim of applicants from remanded batch of GMC Amritsar. They could still grab all the creamy house-jobs leaving us empty handed. We reminded him that if the interviews were to be held before we became eligible the remanded students will choose only creamy house-jobs and majority of departments would still be without house-surgeons for two weeks. This argument rang a bell in his mind still he was reluctant to take the risk of leaving hospital wards without house-surgeons for two weeks. Although he assured us that he will study the problem, we were tense as interview date was approaching fast.
While we were coming down the stairs of Civil Secretariat in a pensive mood, we saw S. Kirpal Singh Member Parliament from Amritsar. I had some acquaintance with him. We rushed towards him and explained him our problem. His own son was also a doctor (1972 batch) so he understood our demands. He immediately said let us go back to Mr. G Balakrishnan. We met him again and Mr. Balakrishnan asked us to meet him day after.
When two of us met him again, he said in clear cut terms, “Listen I want you to do the house-jobs and I want them (remanded batch) to do house-jobs as well. Tell me a solution within this perimeter”. We proposed that interview may be held for one-third seats (approximately 40) but these should include seats from all the specialties. He immediately agreed to our proposal and rang up Principal to postpone the interview (which was scheduled next morning) till further orders. This was kept a closely guarded secret between four of us, not even MS was not aware of it till very late.
Those of you who have good memory would recall that on the morning of interview we all had assembled outside MS Office carrying our certificates. The applicants from remanded batch were eagerly waiting for the interview to begin. Right at 9 AM I tossed my file up in the air and told you all that there will be no interview today. Our seniors panicked and rushed towards MS office who confirmed the news. They ran towards the chemist shop of Mr. Harbans Lal Khanna, ex MLA and brought him to pressurize MS. MS told him it was government’s order and he could do nothing about it. I knew Khanna JI and whispered something in his ear (which I can not disclose) and he left the scene immediately. The clue to what I told Khanna JI is embedded in this blog. Those who know me well will be able to decipher it.
To cut the long story short’ interview for 40 seats meant for remanded batch were held a couple of days later. Interview for the remaining 80 seats was conducted in first week of January 1980 and most of us were able to get house-jobs of our choice.
Looking back, I realize thanks to timely efforts made by us we were able to minimize the loss of creamy house-jobs. In addition, a big chunk of our classmates was able to get admissions in MD/MS/and Diploma courses next year and in early years of their PCMS job. If they had missed getting house-jobs in specialties of their choice, their career path would have been different. It is another matter that our seniors who missed the opportunity of getting creamy house-jobs continued to carry a grudge in their hearts for a long time.
I have many more stories up my sleeve. Please wait for them.
Dinesh Kumar Sharma
