Diffabled doctors raise objections to benchmarks for postings in Jipmer

NEW DELHI: Dr Sujith Jose, a wheelchair-bound urologist serving in a government hospital in Kerala, cannot apply for the same job in the premier Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (Jipmer) in Puducherry due to its “insensitive and illogical” disability criteria.

According to the latest office memorandum (OM) of Jipmer published on March 18 for the recruitment of disabled medical professionals, any faculty in the urology department needs to have the functional ability to sit, stand and walk among other things.

Jose, (34), who suffered spinal injuries while undergoing urology training, performs all these functions with the help of his wheelchair, which the OM hasn’t specified making him disqualified for the post.

A recipient of a scholarship from the Society of International Urology in 2022 for a functional and female urology fellowship from CES University Medellin in Colombia, Dr Jose said, “I have got special training to perform urological surgeries using a standing wheelchair. Developed countries don’t have such functional requirements in jobs.”

Jose is not the only one being deprived of a job opportunity at an institute of national importance like Jipmer due to physical disabilities. Senior medical professionals with disabilities have raised serious objections to the identification of various jobs with respective benchmark disability and functional requirements in Jipmer.

They say that the OM is not only insensitive but also violates the existing law by denying job opportunities to several disabled doctors who are already holding respective positions in reputed medical institutions.

Dr Rakesh Aggarwal, Director, Jipmer, said that doctors who feel that they cannot apply because of any condition can give their representation to the institute.

“Employment opportunities for disabled medical professionals are evolving. Ten years ago, we had different norms but now things have changed,” Dr Aggarwal said.