This is an archive article published on March 9, 2017
AIIMS opens counter for VIP cases sent by Health Minister OSD
“This new counter will cater exclusively to the patients recommended by the OSD to President, AIIMS and VIP references from Hon’ble MPs after being duly forwarded by the authority in AIIMS they have been marked to,” it says.
Other officials authorised to decide a VIP referral are the director, medical superintendent and senior financial advisor of AIIMS.
THE ALL India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has opened a “new counter” to cater “exclusively” to patients recommended by the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Union Health Minister J P Nadda and “VIP references” from Members of Parliament. Nadda also holds the post of president, AIIMS. “In order to address the concerns of OSD to President, AIIMS and to streamline the OPD registration (new and follow-up) of patients recommended by the OSD to President, AIIMS and Members of Parliament, an additional counter shall be opened with effect from March 1, 2017,” says a circular issued by the AIIMS administration on February 23.
“This new counter will cater exclusively to the patients recommended by the OSD to President, AIIMS and VIP references from Hon’ble MPs after being duly forwarded by the authority in AIIMS they have been marked to,” it says.
According to the circular, the OSD to the Health Minister will decide if a reference made by a doctor qualifies as a VIP or not. Other officials authorised to decide a VIP referral are the director, medical superintendent and senior financial advisor of AIIMS.
Earlier, the media and protocol division at AIIMS would facilitate the registration process for “VIP references”, but there was no exclusive counter for them. Now, the AIIMS administration has officially started a mechanism to ensure smooth registration for “VIP references”, opening a new counter at the Rajkumari Amrit Kaur OPD.
The circular also states that staff posted with the media and protocol division shall “henceforth only facilitate the OPD card registration process and the slips for making the cards… to whom VIP reference has been referred to viz. Director, MS (medical superintendent), Sr FA (senior financial advisor), OSD,” says the circular.
On an average, AIIMS gets 10,000 patients daily at its OPD counters. As OPD registration closes at 11 am, patients who have been referred from one department to another have to register online for consultation the next day. “But with the new move, the VIP patients can consult any time till the OPD is functional. The VIP patients need no online registration if they have been referred from one department to another, as they have special counters dedicated to them,” said a faculty member at AIIMS.
Kaunain Sheriff M is an award-winning investigative journalist and the National Health Editor at The Indian Express. He is the author of Johnson & Johnson Files: The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant, an investigation into one of the world’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies.
With over a decade of experience, Kaunain brings deep expertise in three areas of investigative journalism: law, health, and data. He currently leads The Indian Express newsroom’s in-depth coverage of health.
His work has earned some of the most prestigious honours in journalism, including the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award, and the Mumbai Press Club’s Red Ink Award.
Kaunain has also collaborated on major global investigations. He was part of the Implant Files project with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which exposed malpractices in the medical device industry across the world. He also contributed to an international investigation that uncovered how a Chinese big-data firm was monitoring thousands of prominent Indian individuals and institutions in real time.
Over the years, he has reported on several high-profile criminal trials, including the Hashimpura massacre, the 2G spectrum scam, and the coal block allocation case. Within The Indian Express, he has been honoured three times with the Indian Express Excellence Award for his investigations—on the anti-Sikh riots, the Vyapam exam scam, and the abuse of the National Security Act in Uttar Pradesh. ... Read More
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Other officials authorised to decide a VIP referral are the director, medical superintendent and senior financial advisor of AIIMS.
