Docs’ forum questions promotion policy at AIIMS, demands probe into Dr Sudhir Gupta’s allegations

The forum demanded that the AIIMS admin spell out clearly the basis on which Dr Gupta was made head of the Forensic department.

A group of doctors, including faculty members from AIIMS and other institutes in Delhi, have demanded an inquiry into the allegations made by AIIMS’ forensic head Dr Sudhir Gupta that he faced pressure while preparing the post-mortem report of Sunanda Pushkar. The doctors also questioned the promotion policy at AIIMS.

The Progressive Medicos and Scientists’ Forum, which includes doctors and scientists from AIIMS, MAMC and JNU, said in a press release that “the episode has raised some important issues of wider political significance and some of specific importance to the functioning of the country’s premier medical institute”.

On the selection and promotion of faculty members at AIIMS, the forum demanded that the AIIMS administration spell out clearly the basis on which Dr Gupta was made head of the Forensic department in the first place and the facts behind an alleged move to remove him from the post.

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Highlighting how Dr Gupta’s allegation raises serious issues pertaining to policy for faculty selections and promotions at the institute, the forum said, “It is noteworthy that in the past few years, on two occasions, faculty members that were found unfit for promotion by the selection committee and the governing body of the institute have been subsequently promoted… without passing any censure against those who found them unfit in the first place.”

Questioning the selection process at the institute, the forum said, “It may also be noted that almost every faculty selection at AIIMS after 1993 has been a subject of litigation in the courts…”

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