Trouble brews at AIIMS as docs threaten to quit
Major trouble is brewing at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) with more than 10 top doctors threatening to quit the premier institute after its governing body, headed by Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, promoted 39 doctors in a recent meeting. The doctors promoted had been declared “not fit for promotion” by the standing selection committee on January 6.
Of the 39 doctors promoted by the governing body, three have already left AIIMS and three had never applied for promotion. Doctors are promoted only if they present their cases seeking upgrading. The promotions were at the level of additional and associate professors of various departments at AIIMS. Angry doctors have also sent a representation to the Union health minister asking him to review the decision.
The minutes of the eight-member standing committee meeting, which are in the possession of this newspaper, clearly stated: “The committee reiterates its earlier decision on the fitness or otherwise ... There was universal agreement in deciding unfitness of 25 candidates, the majority members agreed about unfitness of four candidates, and others, except one, agreed on the fitness of 10 candidates.” The total number of candidates declared “not fit for promotion” were 39 and the reason, as stated in the minutes, reads: “The guiding principle of this committee has been acknowledging merit and to make others aware of their limitations...”
A top health ministry official defended the decision, saying: “They were eligible for promotion and their heads of departments had recommended them.” He refused to respond to the observations made by the standing committee. However, one of the standing committee members, Dr R.C. Deka, the AIIMS director who had earlier declared the doctors “not fit for promotion”, changed his views during the meeting of the governing body last week.
A senior doctor, who threatened to quit, alleged: “The decision does not send a healthy signal to the other faculty members. When the selection committee during the interview found them not fit for promotion, how can the governing body promote them? This is unfair.”
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