Rajasthan Roadways chairman Shubhra Singh, who was working as additional chief secretary medical and health blames Rajasthan Medical Council (RMC) for not taking action against fake registration despite her clear directions.
“There were clear instructions to act swiftly and firmly against all aberrations. RMC needs to explain why this was not done,” Shubhra told The BuckStopper.
Singh was reacting to the statement of suspended RMC registrar Dr. Rajesh Sharma in which he claimed that he had informed then ACS (Shubhra Singh) about the wrong doing in the council but nothing happened.
Shubhra Singh, a 1989 batch IAS officer two batches senior to chief secretary Sudhansh Pant, had served as additional chief secretary medical and health from May 2023 to September 2024 before being transferred as chairperson of Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation (RSRTC).
Dr Rajesh Sharma suspended
Soon after the lid was off from the scam, the present principal secretary Gayatri Rathore, medical and health, formed a committee to investigate the matter and suspended Dr Rajesh Sharma at the first instance.
“There were clear cut irregularity prima facie. While multiple registrations were issued in a single day, many old registrations were pending for over a year,” Gayatri Rathore said after taking swift action in the case.
Tenure of Shubhra Singh was eventful
Tenure of Shubhra Singh in medical and health department was eventful. During her tenure, a kidney racket was also exposed where transplantation of kidney was carried out at private hospitals over fake NoCs issued by organ transplant committee in SMS Hospital.
It was found that agents of private hospitals were managing to get fake NoCs from committee without any meeting being held. The NoC from committee at SMS hospital is mandatory for any organ transplant to take place.
In that case, former principal of SMS Medical College Dr Rajiv Bagarhatta and former SMS Hospital superintendent Dr Achal Sharma and SMS hospital senior professor (surgery) Dr Rajendra Bagri informed ACB directly about the scam without informing then ACS Shubhra Singh.
“It was also seen as lacunae in her administrative skills that those doctors approached ACB directly without informing department and minister,” said a senior bureaucrat.
Prakash Bhandari is a veteran journalist with over 50 years of experience. He has worked with The Times of India for 30 years and contributed to leading publications as well as international news agency AFP.