AIIMS-Patna 'mess': Pupils flay Centre, BJP blames director

Patna: Even as the agitating students of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Patna berate the Union health ministry for its alleged step-motherly treatment to the institute because it is located in Bihar, the state BJP, which leads the Narendra Modi-led central government, blames AIIMS-Patna director Dr G K Singh for the "mess".
"I have already informed Union health minister J P Nadda about the ongoing strike of students in AIIMS-P," leader of opposition in Bihar legislative council and Sushil Kumar Modi of the BJP TOI on Friday, the fourth day of boycott of classes by the students in protest against lack of infra, faculty and equipment in the institute.
Modi said he had also demanded removal of Dr Singh and that the minister had assured him to resolve the issues. Asked how the director was responsible for the delay in construction work as the Union ministry oversees it, the BJP functionary said, "I do not know the details."
Asked if the Union minister had given any deadline for resolving the issues as the students were demanding a meeting with him, Modi said he was not aware of it.
Sources said the Union health ministry awarded the construction work of OPD, IPD (In-Patient Department), Ayush and trauma and emergency care (TEC) buildings to a contractor five years back. The contractor was given a deadline of about two years, and the ministry deputed an executive engineer and one superintending engineer in AIIMS-Patna to oversee the construction work.
"The enginerers report to the ministry and not to the director," an AIIMS-P source said and added the contractor could complete only the Ayush building, two of the OPD's six floors and two of the TEC's five floors till date. None of the IPD floors are ready.
AIIMS-P director Dr Singh a couple of days ago admitted acute shortage of faculty members as there were only 55 teachers against the sanctioned strength of over 300. The institute conducted interviews for 26 posts in February this year, but the Standing Selection Committee (SSC) of the institute red-flagged the process, saying that the maximum age limit was enhanced to 58 years from 50 years.
"When the AIIMS-P's Institute Body (IB), which is chaired by the Union minister, asked the SSC chairman to conduct a probe into the matter, I dissented to it because the age was relaxed as per a circular of the ministry. Also, if the recruitment process for the 195 posts were to be stayed, it would take another two years to complete the recruitment process," Dr Singh told TOI on Wednesday.
The People's Health Movement, a global network of grass-roots health activists, civil society organizations and academic institutions from around the world, is also worried at the state of affairs in AIIMS-P. "I fail to understand how a director is to blame... Almost all the AIIMSes conceptualised during the last NDA regime are a picture of neglect. A fortnight ago, AIIMS-Bhopal students threw ink on Nadda in protest against poor facilities," Movement's national coordinator Amit Senguta told TOI from New Delhi over phone on Friday.
Worse, Sengupta regretted, the current NDA government has announced ten more AIIMSes or AIIMS-like institutes.
Meanwhile, AIIMS-P students turned down an invite from their director for talks. In their reply to Dr Singh's mail, the students wrote, "Former Union health minister Dr Harshvardhan visited our institute on June 22, 2014 and asked the contractor to complete the work by December 20, 2014, but this didn't happen."
The students lamented that the hospital lacked equipment and labs because it lacked floor space. "Most of our demands can be met only by the Union minister," the letter said and added the agitation won't be called off until a meeting of their delegation with the Union minister materialised.