Letters To The Editor

P. Venugopal. Dr Ramadoss, who thinks the institute has ‘gone into a slumber and become ineffective,’ is not being a responsible minister when he says P. Venugopal was “free to resign.” This betrays his feudal mindset. The government needs to ensure that the autonomous functioning of institutions like the AIIMS does not depend upon the whims of ministers like Dr Ramadoss or Arjun Singh.

— Ved Guliani Hisar

• If the image (some say standards too) of the premier institute has gone down, it is due to political interference. Let the health minister put his hand on his heart and say whether it is right to transfer, demote or remove any body from any institution of repute without taking its director into confidence. (When the director protests he is threatened, bullied and browbeaten by no less a person than the union minister himself.) It may not be unbecoming of Dr Ramadoss but it is certainly unbecoming of the post he holds.

The most arbitrary and whimsical decisions are taken by politicians in power by throwing the veil of public interest on their action. It is no secret that the politicians in power consider their departments as their fiefdom. He must be checked by the prime minister, otherwise his inflated ego will cause incalculable damage to AIIMS.

— Parmanand Pandey, Delhi

• Union health minister Ramadoss’s meddling in AIIMS is unacceptable, but the real reason for doctor’s unhappiness is the pay cut related to the strike period. Someone should tell these ‘meritorious’ doctors that strike means no pay. While poor patients were asked to make sacrifices then, now the least we expect these doctors is not to ask for pay to avoid diluting their “struggle” forever. The health minister should now agree to give them their pay to call their bluff.

— Pranav Sachdeva, New Delhi

RIP, merit

• DR P. Venugopal, the director of the AIIMS, who wants to resign, has been fighting for principles. In the past decade and a half this research and referral institution has degenerated into a “personal fiefdom of crafty politicians”. The union health minister is set on a path which will spell the ruination of some of the brightest medical students and teachers in India. Once the government actively runs this institute, it will fare no better than just another state entity, whereupon the quality of students and teachers inducted will be driven by favouritism rather than merit.

— V.B.N. Ram, New Delhi

Notional issue

• Whether it is Mulayam Singh’s disproportionate assets after becoming chief minister of UP or the income tax notices to Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya or Amar Singh’s wife, what we get to hear from the Samajwadi Party leader is rather a routine affair for most tax payers. Thousands of tax payers go through similar experience and they sort out their differences with the IT department through proper channel. What Amar Singh has taken up for his oratorical onslaught on the Congress is just a (politically) personal matter, which need not necessarily be a national issue.

— B.K. Chatterjee, Faridabad