'Don't be lured by private hospitals'

Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday appealed to the faculty and doctors of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) not to be lured by highly-paying private hospital jobs but stick on "for more satisfaction".

Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday appealed to the faculty and doctors of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) not to be lured by highly-paying private hospital jobs but stick on "for more satisfaction".

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"As a health minister, both private and public sector are the same for me, but as the president of AIIMS I will ask the doctors not leave," said Azad. The union health minister is the ex-officio president of the premier institute.

"One can choose between money and service, some people choose big money and less satisfaction and some less money and more satisfaction. I think in this profession one should go for more satisfaction," said Azad, delivering a speech at a health exhibition held on the occasion of AIIMS' 54th Institute Day.

The minister said "health facilities need to be upgraded at AIIMS and the Delhi Development Authority has agreed to give land for extension plans of the institute".

Expressing concern over the massive rush of patients at the institute, Azad said: "AIIMS was envisaged as the top referral institute for the country, but over the years it has come to be burdened with normal cases - at the cost of the type of cases it should be dealing with."

Besides, the establishment of eight AIIMS-like institutes and upgradation of 19 medical colleges all over the country will relieve it of much of its routine normal cases and enable it to become a perfect referral hospital not only for the country but for the entire world, he said.