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Parliamentary committee raps Anbumani

NEW DELHI: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare has come down heavily on Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Anbumani Ramadoss over the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) controversy, and suggested that the Minister and Secretary be kept out of any form of direct involvement in any of the institute bodies.

In a report on the Jawaharlal Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry Bill, 2007 tabled in the Lok Sabha on Friday, the panel said the inclusion of Mr. Anbumani as president and the secretary as the ex-officio member of JIPMER was against autonomy.

The committee was not convinced with the Ministry’s plea of including the Minister and Secretary for ensuring the institute’s accountability.

At a press conference after the tabling of the report, panel chairperson Amar Singh said the committee passed a resolution on August 30, expressing its deep regret over non-issuance of degree certificates to AIIMS doctors and the resultant strike that severely affected the patient care services at the institute.

The committee noted that a host of conflicting issues had come up in the existing statutory bodies, especially in AIIMS, concerning the powers and functions of the president, the director, the Institute Body and the governing body as there was no clear-cut demarcation of their powers. In order to enable JIPMER to function in a smooth manner, it recommended that a schedule stating the powers and functions of the bodies be appended to the Bill.

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