Venugopal, Ramadoss face-off likely today

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences governing body meeting scheduled for Monday is set to be a stormy affair with members expected to demand a report from Director P Venugopal on implementation of their earlier recommendations.

"In the meeting, the director will be asked what action he has taken on the recommendations made by the members in the last governing body meeting," a health ministry official told PTI.

Chaired by the Minister of Health and Family Welfare Anbumani Ramadoss, the 11-member body will meet at Nirman Bhavan to take up the issues, including various administrative matters.

A battle is on between Ramadoss, who is the president of the institute, and Venugopal since last year when the apex body of the institute had recommended the dismissal of the director, which was stayed by the court.

"The meeting will discuss some of the appointments made in the institute by the director," the officer said.

In the last meeting, held on January 24, a committee headed by Health Secretary Naresh Dayal, was formed to look into the promotions of doctors as the ministry had received various representations from faculty members that under the Assessment Promotion Scheme promotions have not taken place.

Apart from the minister, the meeting will be attended by Congress parliamentarians R K Dhawan and Karan Singh Yadav.

The health ministry official said the meeting is crucial as a decision will be taken to resolve all long-pending matters.

The members will also take up the recruitment and promotion of the institutes' staff 'as per the reservation policy.'

Another matter likely to come up in the meeting is of Registrar V P Gupta, who was transferred to a remote rural centre after an AIIMS vigilance committee found him to be allegedly 'under qualified and misusing his post' last year.

The order was rescinded within 24 hours by the health minister. The AIIMS director, however, had shot off a five-page letter to the registrar asking him to 'report to a rural health centre' and ignore Ramadoss's stay of the transfer.

In the last meeting, however, it was decided to maintain 'status quo' on Gupta's transfer and to take it up in the next meeting.

Also, as their were complaints by students over caste-based discrimination in the MBBS final examination results, the director will be asked whether action has been taken as directed by the members in the last meeting.