8 doctors from Bihar medical colleges among 112 shortlisted for ED post at 7 AIIMS

Altogether four shortlisted candidates are from the IGIMS, three are from AIIMS Patna, both autonomous institutions of the government, and one from the Katihar Medical College, a private institute

Eight doctors from medical institutions in Bihar, including the heads of Patna’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS), are among the 112 candidates shortlisted for the post of executive director at seven AIIMS across India.

The executive directors will head the institution and their administrative powers will remain the same as of the present director (HT Photo)

The new positions are meant to downgrade the post of directors to executive directors at all AIIMS across India except for the one in New Delhi, which is the oldest and the most reputed, people aware of the developments said.

“The executive directors will head the institution. Their administrative powers will remain the same as of the present director, though the financial powers have been reduced. The pay scale, however, has been downgraded from level 17 to 15,” said a senior functionary at AIIMS-Patna.

Most heads of medical institutions, including directors of AIIMS, are applying for the executive director’s post even though it is a notch lower than the pay scale they are already in, as they will get an extended tenure of five years, he added.

Altogether four shortlisted candidates are from the IGIMS, three are from AIIMS Patna, both autonomous institutions of the government, and one from the Katihar Medical College, a private institute.

The ministry of health and family welfare had advertised the post of executive director at each of the seven AIIMS at Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Bhubaneswar (Odisha), Rishikesh (Uttarakhand), Guwahati (Assam) and Awantipora (Jammu & Kashmir), Patna and Darbhanga (both in Bihar).

Dr Prabhat Kumar Singh, director, AIIMS Patna, and Dr Nihar Ranjan Biswas, director, IGIMS, are among the shortlisted candidates. Dr Biswas is at the IGIMS on deputation from AIIMS-Delhi.

Dr Umesh Kumar Bhadani, dean, professor and head of the department of anesthesiology, Dr Bindey Kumar, professor and head of paediatric surgery, both from AIIMS; Dr Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, professor and chief of the state cancer institute, Dr Om Kumar, professor and head of department of nephrology and Dr Rajesh Kumar, professor and head of department of psychiatry, all from the IGIMS, and Dr Ratul Charan Deka, principal, Katihar Medical College, are among the other shortlisted candidates from Bihar.

A total 112 candidates across India, including Dr Ravi Kant, director of AIIMS Rishikesh, Dr Gitanjali Batmanabane, director of AIIMS Bhubaneswar, Dr Saurabh Varshney, executive director and chief executive officer of AIIMS Deoghar, Dr Sachidananda Mohanty, medical superintendent of AIIMS Bhubaneswar, Dr Manisha Shrivastava, medical superintendent of AIIMS Bhopal, are also among the shortlisted candidates.

As many as 108 out of the total 220 candidates who applied for the seven posts did not make the cut. Four among them were from AIIMS-Patna.

“The government has also increased the maximum age ceiling of applicants for the post of executive director from 62 to 67 years. The term of the incumbent will be for a maximum five years or till one attains 70 years of age, whichever is earlier. Earlier, the maximum age ceiling was 62 years for the post of director, which was for five years or 65 years of age, whichever was earlier,” he added.

Dr Singh completes his term as director of Patna’s AIIMS in December.

Representations, if any, have to be submitted by November 15, said the notice on the Union health ministry portal, uploaded on November 5.