Amit Deshmukh, who while carrying legacy of his late father Vilasrao Deshmukh, ex-Chief Minister of Maharashtra, has succeeded in establishing his own identity is introducing several changes in medical education, the department which he handles in Maharashtra’s Mahavikas Aaghadi Government. The department is doing an immense contribution as far as COVID-19 is concerned. The credit goes to Deshmukh in the sense he is steering his officers in a softer way without doing much fuss. Deshmukh is among those few who are not publicity mongering. He is known for doing his work silently. Now he is contemplating changes in the 22-year-old Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) Act which came into existence in 1998. “Medical education has travelled a long way. Several changes have taken place on global platform since then and at national-level too.

 

I think it is the right time now to introduce changes in the Act. We are at present stuck up by the COVID-19 pandemic. But the thought process to that direction has already begun,” said Deshmukh, while talking to ‘The Hitavada’ on telephone. The MUHS Act was introduced in 1998, but nobody since then has touched it nor thought over introducing changes in it. There is an exception of Dr Dileep Mhaisekar, the Vice-Chancellor whose tenure ended last month only. Dr Mhaisekar had planned to change this old act as he felt it was a need of the hour. Dr Mhaisekar had a talk with Deshmukh who had immediately agreed upon it. Maharashtra Public University Act was changed in 2016 during the tenure of Vinod Tawde as Education Minister.

 

There are two departments in State expected to render services for healthcare--Public Health and Medical Education. But during COVID-19 Public Health department is badly exposed. It is evident from the fact that new cases and deaths are more in rural where the whole network is of public health department. Most patients from rural area are being brought to city’s hospitals run by Medical Education department. Most of them die because they reach late and they don’t get the necessary treatment in time. Deshmukh admitted the fact about the great contribution of his department to State’s healthcare services, especially during COVID pandemic.

 

 

Over 400 medical teachers get ad hoc promotions Medical Education Minister Amit Deshmukh has taken a decision of giving ad hoc promotions to 406 medical teachers of 19 Government Medical Colleges of State. This demand was pending since long, due to administrative hassle. These medical teachers were facing several financial issues. Some teachers had to work on half salary while some were not receiving a single penny of their salary. This had affected the mental as well as physical health of these medical teachers who were on constant COVID duty. Considering all these facts, the Minister has instructed to implement the order with retrospective effect. Accordingly Dr Tatyarao Lahane, Director of Medical Education took all efforts and finished the work of promoting 124 professors and 284 Associate Professors by late night and forwarded those to all the medical colleges with all details. Maharashtra State Medical Teachers Association (MSMTA) President Dr Uday Mohite, Secretary Dr Sameer Golawar have expressed their gratitude towards Amit Deshmukh, Dr Tatyarao Lahane, Medical Education Secretary Saurabh Vijay.

 

‘Submit new proposals regarding medical exams’ As Maharashtra Government has extended the lockdown in State to June 1. Taking serious cognisance of the same, Medical Education Minister Amit Deshmukh has asked Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) to submit new proposals regarding examinations. MUHS had already declared the timetable of the examinations to be resumed on June 2. The on-line meeting was chaired by Amit Deshmukh. It was attended by Acting Vice Chancellor of MUHS Dr Nitin Karmalkar, Director of Medical Education Dr Tatyarao Lahane, Joint Director Dr Ajay Chandanwale, Registrar Dr Kalidas Chavan, Controller of Examinations Dr Ajit Pathak, Faculty Deans Dr Sachin Mumbre, Dr Jayant Palaskar, Dr Shrikant Deshmukh, Dr Dhanani Bagal, Dr Rajashri Naik and others. Post Graduate examinations Summer 2021 were scheduled from June 24, 2021 and have been postponed already. Their timetable needs to be ready. The people concerned should discuss the issue and submit the proposal in that regard, instructed Amit Deshmukh.