An alleged recruitment scam has come to light at the Institute of Kidney Disease & Research Centre (IKDRC) in the premises of Civil Hospital, Asarwa in Ahmedabad.

The opposition Congress has alleged that 297 recruitments have been carried out without announcement or examination. Moreover, 12 retired government officials have been employed at high salaries on a contractual basis without the chief minister’s approval.

Quoting reports from the CAG and RTI, Congress has alleged that out of 58 recruitments for positions like doctors, teaching officers, and lecturers, 34 were made without any announcement or examination. 

Out of 1,840 sanctioned regular posts, only 451 have been filled in a regular manner, while between 2012 and 2023, 192 individuals were directly recruited, as per GOP.

The hospital has hired 19 individuals in Class-1, 20 in Class-2, 146 in Class-3, and 7 in Class-4 categories at its own discretion. Cases of favouritism and nepotism have come to light in the recruitments. Virendra Trivedi, who completed his MBBS at the age of 20, was appointed as a resident medical officer within 24 hours, alleged Congress.

As per the allegations, between July 2015 and 2023, Trivedi unlawfully pocketed ₹9.40 lakh as research academic allowance, which he was not eligible for. Even after his retirement, he was reappointed on a high-paying contract without approval.

The CAG report noted that ₹12.91 crore was illegally withdrawn by faculty and medical officers under the guise of research academic allowance.

CAG-RTI report-based allegations

Promotions against National Medical Council (NMC) rules were given to:

Dr Pranjal Modi (Director of Kidney Hospital)

Vaibhav Sutariya

Rajkiran Shah

Divesh Engineer

Umang Thakkar

Umang Thakkar, who does not hold a postgraduate degree, was promoted to Associate Professor in violation of NMC rules.

Yazdi Wadia, who only has a qualification till class 12 and a certificate in radio mechanic electronics, was appointed as Systems Manager without government approval. Despite not meeting the minimum qualifications, he was paid as per the assistant professor’s pay scale.

A total of ₹12.91 crore was withdrawn fraudulently by faculty and medical officers in the department without proper documentation under the pretext of research academic allowance.