Doctors
Indian-origin dean of S Africa medical school quits
By IANS
Apr 18, 2006, 07:27

Girish Mody, the Indian-origin dean of the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine (NRMSM) in Durban, has reportedly tendered his resignation following a series of claims of racism, discrimination, exam leaks and unequal treatment of students during his stint of a little over a year.

According to a report in the Sunday Independent newspaper, a spokesman of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, to which NRMSM is affiliated, confirmed Mody's resignation.

Mody's tenure was marked by a series of controversies with the students openly demanding his resignation, the report said. His term as head of the prestigious institution saw the suspension of as many as five medical professors over various allegations, whose disciplinary hearings were held last December.

According to the newspaper report, though Mody promised a complete report after the hearings, he has not done so till date. A faculty source was quoted as saying that there were also threats of the university being sued if the report into the hearings was made public. Mody had completed just 16 months of his five-year term.

Though the report quoted sources as saying that Mody resigned because of pressure and stress, the man himself told the newspaper that he took the step because of "a change of personal circumstances".

"I will still be a professor of rheumatology, just sooner than I was supposed to," he was quoted as saying.

"We are glad he is not lost to us. He is leaving his administrative position to go back to teaching and research, which he clearly loves more. He will be missed at the level of senior management. He had an excellent style of dealing with people," the report quoted the university spokesman as saying.

Though Nelson Mandela never wanted places or institutions to be named after him, the NRMSM is among the few exceptions. The institute, established over 50 years ago, was named after the great South African leader after the end of the apartheid regime.

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