Suspended Cooper dean reinstated as academic head

Mumbai: Days after suspending Cooper Hospital's dean, Dr Sudhir Medhekar, citing irregularities, BMC officials said he was reinstated as an ‘academic dean'. Dr Neelam Andrade, director of BMC hospitals, said a committee will probe the allegations of wrongdoing. She said the order, which limited dean Dr Medhekar to his specialty—dermatology department—was withdrawn. "He is the academic dean and will continue to perform his duties," she said. Dr Andrade, who will be performing the duties of the dean, did not disclose the nature of the allegations. A senior doctor said, "We are still unclear about why he was removed." Another senior doctor said there was a serious error in multipurpose worker tenders that the dean had tried to correct. "Tenders with ineligible bidders were earlier submitted. Academic dean is still a demotion." A resident doctor said the issue was linked to some grievances, including DNB doctors' salaries and delays in contractual staff's payments. But another doctor said, "These are common across BMC hospitals. It's unlikely the actions were solely due to them." tnn