Rly denies job to cancer survivor

Thiruvananthapuram: The only reminder that Abhilash, 28, had oropharyngeal cancer is a benign scar that runs down in a straight line from below the lower lip, cuts the chin into perfect halves, and then stretches along the left side of the neck to a few centimetres below the left ear.

But the Southern Railway has inflicted on Abhilash a sharper and throbbing wound, though invisible. The railways, in spite of medical records to the contrary, denied him a job saying he is “unfit for all categories in view of cancer surgery.” 

Abhilash was diagnosed with cancer at the base of his tongue at the age of 24  when he was doing his B.Tech at IHRD Engineering College, Adoor. He applied for the post of assistant loco pilot after he was fully cured. The test was held on July 15, 2012. He won the aptitude test held in January this year.

Abhilash was allotted to the Salem division and his police verification was also over before he was sent to Perambur in Chennai for medical examination. “The doctor was very friendly and enquired about the scar on my chin,” Abhilash said.  He had submitted an RCC certificate declaring him “fully fit and completely disease-free.”But days after the medical examination, he was denied the job. 

The rejection letter, however, did not specify the medical conditions that had prompted the railways to declare him unfit. So, before going for a re-medical examination, he underwent a wide spectrum of medical tests at the Kozhikode Medical College.

He was certified “completely fit” on a range of physical parameters, including cancer.The re-medical too rejected him. “Again no specific medical cause was mentioned for the rejection,” Abhilash said.

Therefore, he used the RTI Act to secure his medical report. The railway doctor, contradicting RCC experts, had observed that the malignancy persisted. He visited the RCC yet again on November 15 and was once again told he was fully cured.