IAS hope brightens for youth with thalassaemia

Sukhsohit was earlier declared unfit to join the civil services

The PMO on Tuesday advised the minister for personnel affairs  to look into the matter, post a communiqué a day before by Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni seeking the intervention of the prime minister.

Sukhsohit is fighting against odds to get into the civil services. He is likely to meet officials in the PMO soon seeking redressal of his case. He is the first thalassaemia patient to have cleared the civil services examination.   

A resident of Panchkuala (Haryana), Sukhsohit says that his ailment in no way will hinder his performance, even though he has opted for non-police services. He wants the authorities and the medical board to take into account the observation of some senior medical experts at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) who have said that his disease would not prevent him from performing his duty.

 He was one-and-a-half year old when he was diagnosed thalassaemia major in 1985. Doctors informed his parents that he would required regular medication and blood transfusion. But Sukhsohit has never let his ailment come in the way of his mission. His academic track record says it all. He topped the Class XII examination in the Kendriya Vidyalaya’s Chandigarh region. He completed B.Com with honours in Business Economics from Panjab University and secured first rank in Income Tax examination. He secured first position in MA (public administration) and qualified UGC junior research fellowship exam.
“ (I) Am now pursuing PhD. Had I been mentally or physically disabled, I would not have got these rankings ever since my school days. My only dream has been to join the civil services ,” Sukhsohit said.

 Various NGOs, including the Thalassaemics India and Federation of Indian Thalassaemics, are helping him fight his case. Singh had opted for three preferences- Indian defence accounts services, Indian railway accounts services and railways personnel services.

He has argued his case saying that his condition does not affect his physical, mental and administrative capacities.  

Dr R K Marwaha, professor of Paediatric- Haematology-Oncology, PGIMER, said the disease does not cause any physical mental disability.

He said Sukhsohit was not under any risk and he should be given an opportunity to join the civil services.

Singh said he would soon meet Information Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni in this regard.