Civil Hospital Ahmedabad - Organizational Culture

This is the story from Civil Hospital Ahmedabad, the largest hospital in Asia and the place where I did my 1-year medical internship after completing my medical graduation from B.J. Medical College. The Civil Hospital is huge and managed by a very complex hierarchical structure. However, this is the legend of one person who is considered to be extremely powerful not only in Civil Hospital or BJMC but also in the entire medical fraternity throughout India. He showed his leadership ability and a desire for power right from the beginning years at B J Medical College, his alma mater during student body elections. After his post-graduation, he never ever looked back. He became the head of the urology department (HOD) in the same year he passed out and still continues to be so. He had become the youngest head ever in Indian medical history. He later became syndicate & Senate member of Gujarat University uncontested. He became president of GMC (Gujarat Medical Council) in the 90s and became MCI (Medical Council of India) President in 2001. He has also served as president of IMA (Indian Medical Association) and Dental Council of India. He later also became the president of World Medical Association (WMA), again uncontested. Such was his power and influence that everyone would line up to meet him wherever he went, be it out of admiration or fear or sycophancy. However, he has always been a controversial figure. He was arrested with charges of corruption, but got out of jail soon, and no further action could be taken against him owing to his tremendous political power. What I know first-hand is that he hasn’t come to the urology department in the past ten years, yet he is still the HOD of the department, and nobody can change it! It is even told that he has twisted certain post-graduate medical entrance exam methodology to favor his son who’s still in medical school, and it’s not going to change until he gets through! Nobody can know whether it is true or not, but

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