Dr SK Goswami would be the new president of the Provincial Medical Health Services (PMHS). In the elections for the body of Government doctors of Uttarakhand, Dr Goswami defeated Dr D P Joshi by a margin of 53 votes. In another important post of general secretary, Dr Naresh Napalchiyal secured an emphatic victory.
The results were officially declared after the counting of votes on Wednesday. Declaring the results the Outgoing President of PMHS and Chief Election Officer (CEO), Dr B S Jangpangi said that six votes were found invalid before the counting and out of 687 valid votes Dr Goswami got 370 votes while Dr Joshi polled 317 votes. The contest for the post of General Secretary was a totally one sided affair with Dr Napalchiyal cornering 502 votes in his kitty. Other contestants Dr Harendra Malik and Dr Navneet Bedi could manage only 99 and 80 votes respectively. Dr T K Pant was elected as General Vice President while Dr Deep Prakash was elected as secretary Kumaon division after the counting of votes. In the post of Vice President Headquarters Dr Anand Shukla was unanimously elected.
The process of counting of the ballot papers was mere formality as CMOs of the districts in their capacity as election officers had already wetted the results in the districts. However the allegation of irregularity by some candidates evinced interest in the final counting of ballot papers. Dr Jangpangi said that the process of the election was fair and for the first time ballot papers carrying the signature of Chief Election Officer were dispatched to districts.
He said that six ballot papers not carrying counter signature of district election officers were cancelled.
The newly elected President Dr S K Goswami said that his main objective would be to ensure that the pride of doctors is not hurt. listing his priorities General Secretary Dr Naresh Napalchyal said that since the elections were fought on the issue of Dynamic Assured Career Progression (DACP), his endeavor would be to fight for its implementation across the board. The DACP was implemented this year but only newly recruited doctors would get its benefit. This decision triggered resentment among the serving doctors. The scheme gives the benefit of assured increase in the grade pay of the doctors after 4, 9, 13 and 20 years of the service irrespective of whether they get promotions or not.