The Hindu : New Delhi News : AIIMS faculty question panel to select director

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Monday, Jul 21, 2008
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AIIMS faculty question panel to select director

Bindu Shajan Perappadan

‘Select committee doesn’t have enough academicians and practising doctors on board’
Faculty will be writing to PM Manmohan Singh asking him to intervene in the matter

NEW DELHI: Several senior faculty members of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences here have criticised the select committee constituted by the Institute Body for short-listing names for the post of director.

Calling the committee “incomplete”, they said the select committee does not have enough academicians and practising doctors on board, which could compromise the quality of persons short-listed for the post of director of the Institute.

‘Positive contribution’

The faculty will also be writing to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh again asking him to intervene in the matter. It has also drawn up and suggested a list of 23 members who it claims could contribute “positively” towards selecting a director.

“The AIIMS’ Institute Body will examine the names forwarded by the committee and then it will be sent to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet for final approval. What we are questioning is the reduced number of doctors who have made it to the select committee,” said a senior faculty member of the Institute.

Proposed members

He added that the list of members for the select committee they were planning to send to the Prime Minister’s Office includes previous Institute directors and faculty members, medical and scientific experts, legal luminaries, members from the National Knowledge Commission and representatives from Delhi University.

The current select committee includes Union Health Secretary Naresh Dayal, Director General of Health Services R.K. Srivastava, Vice-Chancellor of the National Board of Examinations Shyam Prasad and former Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research N.K. Ganguly among others.

‘Free and fair selection’

“The Faculty had earlier approached the Prime Minister asking him to constitute a select committee under his own able chairmanship. The suggestion was put forward with the hope that with the Prime Minister heading the committee, selection would be fair and free,” said a faculty member.

Claim refuted

Refuting any claims of the select committee being “incomplete”, a member of the Institute faculty said: “The selection committee includes eminent scientists and officers who we are sure will do whatever is required in this case.”

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