NEW DELHI: Dr M Srinivas, dean of Hyderabad’s Employees State Insurance Company (ESIC) Hospital and Medical College has been appointed as the next director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the national Capital.
The order to appoint Dr Srinivas for the next five years was issued on Friday, nearly six months after the outgoing director Dr Randeep Guleria’s term was due to end on March 25, 2022. He was twice given a three-month extension which ends on Friday.
Dr Srinivas has been a faculty at AIIMS-Delhi in the past. He was a professor in AIIMS’s department of pediatric surgery before shifting to the ESIC Hospital and Medical College in Hyderabad in 2016.
Friday’s order to appoint Dr Srinivas was issued by the department of personnel and training following the approval of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The order said Dr Srinivas will be AIIMS director for five years from the date of assumption of charge of the post, or till attaining the age of 65 years.
The order also regularised Dr Randeep Guleria’s extension. It said the ACC has given “ex-post facto approval for continuation of Dr Randeep Guleria as Director AIIMS, New Delhi w.e.f. March 25, 2022 for six months, or till joining of the new Director, whichever is earlier.” Dr Guleria was first appointed AIIMS director on March 28, 2017.
{{/usCountry}}The order also regularised Dr Randeep Guleria’s extension. It said the ACC has given “ex-post facto approval for continuation of Dr Randeep Guleria as Director AIIMS, New Delhi w.e.f. March 25, 2022 for six months, or till joining of the new Director, whichever is earlier.” Dr Guleria was first appointed AIIMS director on March 28, 2017.
{{/usCountry}}A search-cum-selection committee headed by the Union health secretary in March this year shortlisted three names: Nikhil Tandon, head of the department of endocrinology; Rajesh Malhotra, chief of AIIMS Trauma Centre and the head of the department of orthopaedics; and Pramod Garg, professor in the gastroenterology department in the institute. The shortlist was approved by the Institute Body, the top decision-making body of the AIIMS and sent to ACC for approval.
The PM Modi-led cabinet committee on June 20 sought a wider panel of names.
Names of MV Padma Srivastava, chief of neurosciences centre; Dr Balram Bhargava, former ICMR director general; and Dr Rakesh Aggarwal, director of Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research, Puducherry were subsequently discussed in this context.
Eventually, the committee also shortlisted Dr M Srinivas, and Dr Sanjay Behari, director of Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology, Trivandrum.