Ramadoss' next: Panel on AIIMS

New Delhi: The Government will form a committee to look into the functioning of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Health Minister Ambumani Ramadoss said on Monday.

The committee will work under the chairmanship of Dr Veliathan, former director of Sri Chitra Thirunal Institute in Kerala, and will include the Health Secretary and Director General of Health Sciences (DGHS), said Ramadoss.

"I have met the Prime Minister regarding the ongoing issue of AIIMS and we decided that a committee will be formed," said Ramadoss, who is the president of the AIIMS.

"The committee will probe whether the institute was functioning efficiently," Ramadoss said adding that "in the last three or four years, the quality and functioning of the AIIMS has not been satisfactory."

The terms of reference would include whether the research activities of AIIMS were as per schedule, why doctors were leaving and "most importantly, how AIIMS could further be strengthened and put to use for which it was conceptualised".

The formation of the committee is clearly a move to deflect criticism that the Health Ministry was trying to undermine the autonomy of the country's premier medical institution.

But the minister's announcement is ironic.

While the committee will look at whether the autonomy of AIIMS has been curbed, there is no one from AIIMS in it and this could hit the credibility of suggestions this committee comes out with.

But Dr P Venugopal has not yet been informed of the committee yet.

"If we don't take corrective measures, it will be a shame on AIIMS. We had to take an administrative decision. We can't wait for Dr Venugopal (AIIMS director) to return from a three-month holiday. I have received whole lot of complaints against many in AIIMS," he said.

"AIIMS is bigger than individuals. I have no personal ego. I respect Venugopal but want to improve AIIMS. It should be the best in the world. We will inform Venugopal about the decisions taken by the Centre," he added.

Ramadoss has also made it clear that Dr Venugopal will have to explain why he called a press conference last week.

Ramadoss, who last week alleged that the administration had collapsed at AIIMS and the institute had become a hub of politics, said his statements had been blown out of proportion.

For now, it is AIIMS that is bearing the brunt of the ego clash between minister and admistrator.

(With inputs from Shreya Dhoundial and Urvashi Sibal)

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