The Hindu : New Delhi News : Panel to look into working conditions at AIIMS

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 16, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Panel to look into working conditions at AIIMS

By Aarti Dhar

NEW DELHI, MARCH 15. Concerned over the increasing number of alleged suicides at the country's premier medical institute, the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Anbumani Ramdoss, yesterday announced the constitution of a committee to look into the working conditions of doctors and research students there.

The committee, to be headed by the Director-General of Health Services (DGHS), will look into the facilities available at the Institute and suggest remedial measures to improve the work atmosphere. The announcement was made when the Health Minister visited AIIMS this afternoon and spent a good two hours listening to the grievances of doctors who virtually poured their hearts out.

This was the first ever interaction any Health Minister, who is also the ex-officio President of the Institute, has held with the 500 faculty members since its inception.

Wanting to know the possible reasons behind the high suicide rate at the Institute, the Minister was told by the doctors about excessive work pressures and lack of facilities for research. They said they faced constraints of equipment, shortage of staff and resources and a heavy patient load that left them with little for research. Though the Institute was designed as a research institute, over the years it had become like any other Government hospital, the Minister was told.

Responding to the faculty, Dr. Ramdoss said there was a proposal to expand the departments of AIIMS under a mega project and adding a new department of human resource development that would look into the needs of staff.

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