PUNE: It has come to the fore that punitive action has been taken against eight personnel of Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation's Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital (YCMH), including the medical officer of YCMH who had abandoned patient care to indulge in a spot of yoga during office hours. Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Singh has imposed fines on the erring eight and has ordered to recover the amounts from their respective salaries.  

The erring medical personnel have been identified as Medical Officer Dr. Varsha Javale, Clerk Pratibha Munawat, Sushma Jadhav, Assistant Bhandarpal Kavita Bahot, Constable Shamlata Taru, nurses Savita Dhokle, Nutan More, and Nilima Jagde have been penalised for participating in yoga classes during on-duty hours and without the explicit permission of their superior officers.

As per the report received, the superior officer and staff members of the YCM Hospital were practicing yoga every day between 3pm and 4.30pm since October 2022 without prior permission from their superior officers. 

This piece of information came to light during a spot check carried by a team from the General Administration Department. Following which, a Show Cause Notice was issued to the YCM Hospital authorities considering that the staff had attended  yoga classes during on-duty hours when they were responsible for providing urgent medical services to the patients.  

Dr. Rajendra Vabale, Dean, YCM Hospital informed that the personnel hadn't applied for permission and no written approval had been issued for the yoga class.

Commissioner Shekar Singh imposed fines on the erring personnel, starting with ₹53,356 for Dr. Javale, Munawat was penalised ₹22, 032, Jadhav was docked ₹10,432, Bahot was fined for ₹11,904, and Taru was deducted a sum of ₹11,896. While the nurses Dhokle, More and Jahde were docked ₹200 each. Commissioner Singh has ordered to recover the aforementioned fines from their respective salaries. He has reiterated of stricter punitive measures in case of further misconduct or derelict of duty.