State health minister Banna Gupta may have wanted RIMS director D.K. Singh to leave, but the state government wants Singh to stay on.

Around 10 days back, health minister Gupta had recommended to chief minister Hemant Soren to remove Singh as RIMS director for his “unsatisfactory work” during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Gupta wanted RIMS superintendent Dr Vivek Kashyap to act as director till a permanent appointment was made.

Chief minister Hemant Soren is now learnt to have overruled his cabinet colleague’s recommendation and decided to let Singh continue as RIMS director at least till Jharkhand recovers from the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“Tackling Covid-19 is now the CM’s top priority, and he can’t allow RIMS to become a battleground of egos,” said a top government source who requested anonymity.

Principal health secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni on Wednesday shot off a letter to the Union health ministry stating that Singh’s services were required at a time when Jharkhand was facing the pandemic.

“The state government has requested the health ministry to let Singh continue as director of RIMS given the situation. At this moment he can’t be relieved for his new assignment,” Kulkarni said on Thursday.

Singh was hired as the director of RIMS, Jharkhand’s only state-run super-speciality hospital, around 18 months back for a period of three years.

Contacted on Thursday, Singh did not speak on the controversy. “I have five years of service and I want to work as a doctor with full dedication and dignity. It is my duty to serve people in whatsoever capacity,” he said.

Trouble had been brewing between Singh and Gupta for at least a month. After Gupta made his recommendation to the CM, Singh tendered his resignation and requested the government to relieve him from the post of RIMS director, saying he had been selected as an executive director of AIIMS-Bhatinda. He claimed that on April 12 he had told the government about his selection.

Singh also claimed that he had written to the Union health secretary early in April that he was unwilling to leave RIMS midway but had sensed that it would be difficult for him to continue in the wake of minister Gupta’s annoyance towards him.

The issue took on a political hue with the Opposition BJP stepping in with a warning that Singh’s departure at a time like this would send a wrong signal to people at large and health workers.