A column in a form issued by Patna’s reputed Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences for its staff has controversy written all over it. A ‘marital declaration’ form issued by the IGIMS has a column where new employees are required to state whether they are bachelors or widowers.
While that may seem innocuous, the third option comes as quite a shocker. For, the institute also asks of its employees to state whether they are ‘virgin’.
“I……Declare as under,” the declaration form begins, and adds in the second column: “That I am a bachelor/widower/virgin.”
The form is part of the procedure adopted by the institute for doctors and staff joining it.
The other columns in the declaration form are equally astounding and confusing. It asks employees to declare whether they are “married to a person who has no other wife living”, and if they are married and have “more than one wife.”
While the reasons behind the institution seeking such details were not immediately available, the newly appointed state Health minister Mangal Pandey told India TV that it was a practice that has existed for long.
The institute’s director also echoed similar views and said that if there were changes required in the form, it had to be done at the level of the government and that the institute had no say in it.
Dr SK Shahi of the IGIMS told India TV that the entire incident appeared to be someone's mischief and that an inquiry has been ordered into the matter. "Asking whether an individual is married or not is as per regular practice. However, the word 'virgin' does not exist in the form. It appears to be someone's mischief," he said.
Established in 1983, the IGIMS is an autonomous organisation on the lines of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. With a budget of over Rs 133 crore, it is one of the biggest health care institutions in the state. It is the only super specialty institute of Bihar and provides education in medicine and also conducts health and medicinal research.
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