Double whammy at AIIMS

The unending tussle between Union Health Minister A. Ramadoss and AIIMS Director P. Venugopal has left the institute’s resident doctors in a peculiar situation, reports Bhadra Sinha.

The unending tussle between Union Health Minister A. Ramadoss and AIIMS Director P. Venugopal has left the institute’s resident doctors in a peculiar situation. The Delhi High Court on Friday permitted Ramadoss to issue separate degrees to the doctors after he claimed that the certificates issued by Venugopal and the dean, examination, were illegal.

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The court also clarified that the degrees Venugopal issued were valid even if they did not contain the signatures of the institutions’ president and the dean, academics. Although the court tried to help doctors, its order did not clear the uncertainty dodging them.

The resident doctors who had petitioned the High Court to decide which degree was valid for them to apply for further studies or a job, hope that the court passes a final order on September 3.

The dispute between the president and the director surfaced again after the director issued orders to distribute degrees to the protesting resident doctors without the president’s signatures.

It is learnt that the health minister refused to sign the degrees after Venugopal ended the term of the registrar to whom Ramadoss wanted to grant an extension. As the institute’s dean apparently sided with the minister, Venugopal got the degrees signed by the dean, examinations.

When doctors learnt that the president too wanted to issue separate degrees, declaring the ones bearing the director’s signatures illegal, they approached the High Court.

“We do not know whether there is any dispute in AIIMS or not. But these students, who are innocent, should not suffer because of all these things,” the court observed. Putting its stamp of approval on the degrees, it said, “We will address reservations of the health minister and its dean, academics, on September 3."