KOCHI: The manner in which appointments are being made to the yet to be realised Kochi Cancer Centre is raising eyebrows with the Justice V R Krishna Iyer Movement which has been spearheading the campaign to set up the centre. The Movement has written a letter to the Health Minister saying there was a lack of transparency in the appointments and has demanded that the posts be advertised in all leading dailies. There are apprehensions that favouritism would creep in if the current mode is allowed.
The letter points out that to find a director to the Centre, a search at the national level has to be undertaken rather than restricting it to the state, so that an eminent cancer specialist is appointed. It also said that for posts at the Centre, no advertisement could be seen in newspapers. “The District Collector has just given a press release regarding the notification of vacancies and this only appeared in a few papers,” the letter to the Minister said. It added that the press release did not mention a written test/interview which raised serious concern about transparency in appointments.
The letter also points to the absence of a selection committee for the appointments. “Institutions like RCC and MCC have a selection board under the chairmanship of the director. But the Kochi institute lacks a director. Hence, the need for a selection committee for the whole process. Eminent persons like directors of RCC, MCC and other reputed institutions should be included in the selection committee,” the letter added while requesting the Health Minister to extend the last date to submit applications from September 26 while widely advertising the posts.
