AIIMS for glory

Very few of the country8217;s health ministers have been able to resist the allure of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. But the current incumbent, Anbumani Ramadoss8217;s inability to stay away and honour the institutes8217; autonomy is particularly acute. For him it has been the site for variegated assertions. He visited it during the countrywide doctors8217; anti-reservation agitation for a photo-opportunity. He threw on his white coat, and flaunted his bighearted induction in the suffering patients8217; cause by attending to one visibly bemused woman. He is underlining his party, the PMK8217;s political agenda by disturbing the fragile calm that has finally returned to campuses. So, the diktat has just gone out, doctors who struck work will have their cuts in their pay packet. And now, Ramadoss is making the point that autonomy is something even elite institutions like AIIMS enjoy only at the minister8217;s pleasure.

Ramadoss and AIIMS Director P. Venugopal have sharply differed on the manner of faculty appointments. The director8217;s case is that four senior officials 8212; including the dean 8212; have been replaced without him even being consulted. The minister says he is only attempting to improve matter through such interventions. There is, first, the unseemliness of it all. There is, more important, the autocratic attitude of the health ministry. Ramadoss8217;s summary rebuff of Venugopal8217;s worries about institutional autonomy in fact brings into focus exactly what it is that ails AIIMS. Ever since its establishment by act of Parliament in 1952, AIIMS has been at the cutting edge of medical education, research and referral services. That edge has, however, been getting blunter. Resource crunch and patient overload are two reasons. But the exodus of talent from AIIMS and its inability to match the research of its early decades can be traced to increased politicisation and interference. Ramadoss8217;s current intrusion is a perfect example.

Even now, with a battle of egos seemingly in play, Ramadoss is advised to step back. For all the talk of AIIMS8217; elite status, its hopes of reclaiming its old excellence are extremely tenuous. Simply put, a public confrontation will inflict great institutional damage. The health minister is right to be desirous of restoring AIIMS to its old glory. His actions, alas, are bound to achieve exactly the reverse.