AIIMS and atrocities by Indian politicians

12-06-2007, 04:47 AM

QUOTEEmbarrassed Ramadoss withdraws Puducherry medi inst Bill 
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
Just a week after the Government rushed through the controversial AIIMS Bill in Parliament, Health Minister A Ramadoss faced a major embarrassment in the Rajya Sabha when he was forced to withdraw the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Puducherry Bill, 2007.

Though technically the Bill would be treated as 'postponed' after debate concluded, the Health Minister said, "I will take it back to the Cabinet."

An embarrassed Parliamentary Affairs Minister PR Dasmunsi said this was the first time that a Bill, after being scrutinised by the Parliamentary Standing Committee and the Cabinet, was being referred back to the Cabinet for reconsideration.

The Bill seeks to turn Jawaharlal Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry, into an institution of National Excellence on the lines of AIIMS and Chandigarh's Postgraduate Institute.

CPI(M) member Brinda Karat had moved an amendment that the existing fee structure of JIPMER should never be altered even if it was being given an autonomous status.

Ramadoss was not ready to accept this amendment saying that the Bill cannot have a provision for fixed fee structure but such a scheme can be incorporated in the rules. He requested that the Bill be passed as other demands such as reservation and free of cost treatment to the poor have been accepted.

The CPI(M) member did not relent to the assurance of the Minister and insisted on pressing for voting.

She was supported by the BJP chief whip SS Ahluwalia, who said that his party would also demand division of vote on this issue.

Ramadoss drew flak from AIADMK leader V Maitrayan and other members, who charged that he had conspired to erode the autonomy of AIIMS and now wanted to erode the autonomy of the Puducherry institute as well.

Here comes another stupidity.

12-11-2007, 03:36 PM

QUOTETHE RIGHT VIEW
Minister for Hurt
Tarun Vijay
5 Dec 2007

When my friend TJS George, founder editor of Asiaweek titled his collection of political essays as 'Politics - The first refuge of scoundrels' no eyebrows were raised. Normally this is what people think about politicians. And their actions further reinforce such perceptions, though exceptions shall always remain.

So, when the Supreme Court asked the central government why it was so adamant to remove one person from the directorship of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), the state power looked silly and this too didn't surprise the people or the media. That the entire Union government would concentrate its energies to ensure the removal of one single individual from the post he is occupying through the government's order itself is a mockery of the entire governance and a sad reflection on the sincerity of rulers.

The only other example of this nature can be cited of Shah Bano's, whose fault was that she was a Muslim and none of the Muslim organisations wanted her to get a meagre twenty-five rupees per month alimony. So, to nullify the Supreme Court's orders to this effect, the Rajiv Gandhi government brought a legislation in Parliament. That, too, triggered a debate on the rights and duties of the Supreme Court and this time, too, Parliament and the media are getting busy to debate the eternal question â which is supreme, Parliament or the judiciary?

First we must pay left-handed compliments to the Union Minister of Health, Anbumani Ramadoss, who has never shown this kind of focussed zeal and resolve for establishing new hospitals and rejuvenating the AIIMS-like medical institutes scheme envisaged in the NDA rule during Sushma Swaraj's tenure as health minister. That would have eased the burden on the AIIMS, Delhi and provided quality healthcare in at least six major states. Nothing happened to that.

Delhi is having some of the worst public hospitals and if it is to be believed, not a single public hospital has been opened here since 1966. All that we see is the continuous growth of new private nursing homes, hospitals and medical care centres, mostly catering to the rich and the famous. They look more like five-star hotels than a place of serious medical care and somehow manage to have a politician to inaugurate their money-making machines labelled as hospitals. So why should a politician bother to improve public hospitals, till he and his family gets free treatment in the five-star centres of healthcare?

Anbumani has weird ideas about healthcare, so in a sudden impulse he decided that doctors should be made to serve in rural areas for one year. On the face of it, the scheme sounds good, specially when we see a large number of medical practitioners acting more like butchers, forgetting the solemn oath that they have taken to serve the patients, but pray, what a doctor, that too a practitioner of allopathic system of medicine and surgery, would do in a rural area where the basic facilities of healthcare remain completely absent? In fact, the government should have focussed on the preventive healthcare structure banking more on time-tested Ayurvedic, Unani and nature care systems that are easily accessible for a common person while creating a sound and functional infrastructure for allopathic stream requiring X-ray, clinical tests, operation theatre and mobile vans. Many voluntary organisations have done inspiring work in this field and I must mention the pioneering models created in healthcare by the IIT, Madras, under guidance of Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala.

But nothing of this sort inspires or fuels the imagination of our minister, otherwise supposed to be taking care of peopleâs health. He loves to hurt more and hurt with a resolve that would shame many of the steel-framed police officers hounding the terrorists and eliminating them in encounters. Anbumani trained his entire arsenal on one cardiologist who is respected as an iconic figure amongst patients and his students. I don't know how much respect this 'Minister of Hurt' commands in his own ministry, but certainly a more civil and modest person would have resigned after a series of Supreme Court strictures and comments on his conduct.

Even otherwise, the whole episode betrays a lack of sensitivity on part of the UPA leaders, the Prime Minister and the President who okayed the bill to remove AIIMS Director, Venugopal, perhaps without giving a serious thought to it. Here is exactly where the quality and statesmanship of the nation's leadership is put to test. Dr. Venugopal, the cardiovascular surgeon par excellence who did the first heart transplant in India in 1994, received the Indira Priyadarshihni Award and the Padma Bhushan from this government. He helped people, commoners and poor, to get a new lease of life working at a low salary compared to his achievements and stature. His appointment letter reads like this -- Dr. P. Venugopal, Dean and Chief of Cardio Thoracic Centre and Professor of Cardio Thoracic and Vascular Surgery, Is hereby appointed as director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences , New Delhi for a period of five years .............(he) will get a pay of Rs. 26,000/-(fixed) plus non-practicing allowance (NPA) at the rate of 25% of the basic pay subject to the condition that pay plus NPA doesn't exceed Rs 29,000/- per month...

This was the doctor Anbumani Ramadoss was gunning for. Till now, the minister has not been able to cite one single reason for his zidd (stubbornness) to remove Dr. Venugopal. The employees and the patients know that itâs the lust for power that is responsible. In turn, patients would suffer, a premier institute already cracking up under severe burden of medical cases pouring in from every corner of the land and even abroad would die in efficacy and credibility but the Prime Minister, UPA chairperson and the Leftist supporters will smile because they would have won a battle against an individual. Wow, viva new statesmanship of the futuristic Gen X!

Now that the powers of Parliament have been used to remove one single person, ultimately, even in this removal the victory belonged to the sacked Dr. Venugopal and in turn, Indian Parliament and upholders to the Constitution are shamed.

In times like this when barbarism and civil violations have become a routine affair, such incidents further erode people's trust in governance as a tool of relief and public good. More than hundred innocents are killed by Blueline buses, nothing is shaken up, terrorist attacks continue and a Chief Minister openly accuses the central government for intelligence failure, tea garden tribals demand constitutional status in a rally in Guwahati and are beaten to pulp in ghastly manner, a young girl is stripped in the market and forced to walk, no action is taken against the culprits in a state which sends the Prime Minister to the Upper House. The government openly advertises and distributes student scholarships to non-Hindus, thereby creating more fissures and widening the already existing gulf between communities.

It doesn't show firmness in handling terrorists and providing better basic infrastructure in health and education in the rural areas, but the rich and powerful float in their stinking money pools. The nation belongs to the common people, but is run by the rich, for the rich.

The author is the editor of Panchjanya, a Hindi weekly brought out by the RSS. The views expressed are his personal.Â

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/article...5,prtpage-1.cms

12-21-2007, 12:17 AM

QUOTEBoycott Ramadoss meetings, Bihar doctors urge MCI, IMA 
Pioneer.com
Amarnath Tewary | Patna
The disparaging remark by Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss against a doctor from Bihar has snowballed into a major controversy with enraged medicos and doctors associated with Bihar unit of the Indian Medical Association asking the Medical Council of India and the central IMA to bar the Minister from attending any meeting of their bodies and appealed to their fraternity to boycott any function addressed by the Minister.Â

The Bihar chapter of the IMA on Tuesday had strongly protested Ramadoss' remark made at a function in Delhi recently that a doctor from Bihar was responsible for derecognition of Indian medical degrees by Britain. The protesting doctors had come out in Patna streets and burnt effigies of the Minister.

"We have appealed to our central body and the Medical Council to restrict Ramadoss from attending any meeting organised by them and also not attend any function addressed by him," said Ajay Kumar, president of the IMA on Wednesday.

"We would also request the Prime Minister to expel the Minister from his Cabinet for his parochial remark," said secretary of the Bihar chapter of IMA Shahajanand Singh. He also said that they would write to Central Ministers and MPs coming from Bihar for exerting pressure on UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to dismiss him from the Cabinet.

In a cautious reaction, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told media that though he was not aware of what the Minister had said, he knew that there were several good doctors from the State in Britain who are doing extremely well. "I, myself know several of them who are doing well in the medical profession in Britain," said Nitish Kumar.

Meanwhile, the fuming Bihar doctors have said that the Minister has tarnished the image of whole State, Bihar with his remark. "Ramadoss statement clearly shows his bias against the State and the doctors coming from it. It seems he suffers from some regional and racial prejudices," charged Sanjay Kumar Suman of Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS).

IMA Bihar unit president Basant Singh also flayed Ramadoss. "I fail to understand why the Minister made such a degrading statement against a Bihar doctor at a time when the doctors from the State are doing exceptionally well outside the country and in Britain", said he.

At a high-powered meeting of the medicos Basant Singh along with almost all the known and famous doctors of Patna condemned Ramadoss' remarks and demanded either unconditional apology or dismissal from the union cabinet.

Meanwhile, the general secretary of the Bihar State Medical Teachers Association, Rajiv Ranjan Prasad has asked the Union Health minister what proof he has to declare that the said doctor was from Bihar. "The case Ramadoss referred at the doctors meeting in New Delhi recently was of about 40 years ago, I would like to ask him what proof he has got to say that the said doctor was from Bihar?" asked RR Prasad.

Prasad also said that by making such statement Ramadoss has vilified the image of doctors of Bihar which could not be tolerated at any cost.

12-21-2007, 02:38 AM

QUOTEAfter AIIMS, Minister out to wreck Red Cross 
Pioneer.com
Rajeev Ranjan Roy | New Delhi
After AIIMS, Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss is now in the thick of accusations for subverting the autonomy of the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) of which he happens to be the chairman.

Sources in the Red Cross claimed a number of key appointments made in the recent past smack of "evil designs" to wreck the autonomy of the prestigious non-Government organisation known for its work to help humanity in distress.

Sources said that the relatives of Ramadoss' ministerial staff are being thrust upon the society in violation of established statutory norms. "Lakshmi Moorthy, wife of Ramadoss' Officer on Special Duty (OSD) DS Moorthy, was appointed as the administrator, disaster management, IRCS, without taking managing body into confidence," they claimed.

"Her appointment along with many others was made in blatant violation of the norms of IRCS. Even the director level officials have been appointed against consolidated salaries, something unheard of in the society," well-placed sources said.

"Instead of bringing transparency and efficiency in the functioning of IRCS, Ramadoss seems to be encouraging the plundering of Indian Red Cross, and he is getting complete co-operation from the society's Secretary General SP Aggarwal," they added.

Sources said that at least 20 appointments including that of the joint secretary had been made in violation of the established norms. "Without seeking the statutory permission of managing body, selection committees are formed arbitrarily to bring in favoured ones," they said.

"There are no statutory provisions in the IRCS to appoint director-level officials against a consolidated salary, but several such appointments have been made.

Two such directors have been appointed in the finance department at hefty salaries, and they have literally no work to do," sources said

Sources said Ammamalai, the son-in-law of one of Ramadoss' assistant personal secretaries, was given the job as co-ordinator in the Disaster Management department. "We have a Joint Secretary in the society from the Union Health Ministry on deputation, so far unparalled in the IRCS," they added.

DS Moorthy, OSD to the Minister and husband of Lakshmi, denied the charges that she was given the job after the Ministry's intervention. "She was the most qualified among all applicants, and hence her selection was totally merit-based. It is a different matter that she did not take up the job," Moorthy claimed.

Moorthy, however, refused to comment on other charges involving Ramadoss and other ministerial staff. "I cannot speak on behalf of others. I do not know about the charges you are talking about. I told you what I knew," he added.

Sources said the real problems of IRCS started from the day when Aggarwal was thrust upon the IRCS without the concurrence of managing body comprising 18 members from across the country.
Â
"A special Screening Committee was set up solely to appoint the current incumbent as the Secretary General. Why the managing body was not taken into confidence in appointing the chief executive of the society," a senior IRCS official said.

According to him, the managing body of IRCS recommends as many as three names to the President of India to be appointed as the Secretary General.

"It was a three-member screening committee comprising AA Hai and former AIIMS Director PK Dave which recommended just one name to be appointed to the top slot. It was done with the tacit support of the Union Health Minister," the official claimed.

12-21-2007, 10:42 AM

QUOTE Docs quitting AIIMS may be denied its tag
21 Dec 2007, 0117 hrs IST,Kounteya Sinha,TNN
Â PrintÂ SaveÂ EMailÂ Write to Editor

NEW DELHI: Doctors who once worked with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences but are presently serving private clinics and hospitals after taking voluntary retirement may be in for a rude shock.

The Union Health Ministry may soon bar them from using the institute's name on their clinic boards or letters heads. The ministry believes that such advertisements actually result in "misuse of the institute's good name".

The proposal was brought up at the Institute Body meeting of AIIMS on Thursday by some members. Health secretary Naresh Dayal said, "We don't have a problem with doctors who have retired from AIIMS after completing their tenure and are now practising privately.

But we are examining legally, whether we should allow doctors who have taken voluntary retirement to use their tenure at AIIMS as an advertising tool. In some countries, doctors have to take permission from institutes before doing so." 
..............

Ramadoss had gone crazy.

G.Subramaniam · 12-22-2007, 09:42 PM

A very simple guide to understanding Ramadoss

1. He is rooted in Dravidian politics
2. Dravidian politics are based on anti-brahminism
3. DMK is front for Mudaliar caste. AIADMK is front for Thevar caste
Ramadoss is leader of Vanniyar caste
4. In order to look good to his castemen, he has chosen to attack Venugopal , a brahmin
5. In next election, he will switch to NDA and BJP will support him, since he can win 8 seats in Tamil Nadu

12-22-2007, 09:55 PM

G.Subramaniam,
It is more to do with money, put his relative and close people in key position in medical bodies and empty everything from these bodies.
AIIMS is very rich hospital with huge annual budget. Now he had full control of AIIMS, slowly we will see machines are missing or moved to TN or his family hospital which will be used for "Medical Tourism".
His family is a plain crock of highest order.
Red Cross is also rich body with foreign funds.

G.Subramaniam · 12-22-2007, 10:14 PM

QUOTE(Mudy @ Dec 22 2007, 09:55 PM)G.Subramaniam,
It is more to do with money, put his relative and close people in key position in medical bodies and empty everything from these bodies.
AIIMS is very rich hospital with huge annual budget. Now he had full control of AIIMS, slowly we will see machines are missing or moved to TN or his family hospital which will be used for "Medical Tourism".
His family is a plain crock of highest order.
Red Cross is also rich body with foreign funds.
[right][snapback]76299[/snapback][/right]


All politicians including many BJP are crooks

There are much easier ways of making money than to pick a fight

The sole reason to pick a fight with Venugopal is to look good to his stupid castemen

05-09-2008, 03:08 AM

QUOTEJolt for UPA, SC reinstates Venu 
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
Strikes down law that forced him to step down; sack-Ramadoss demand gains momentum

In a big blow to Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, the Supreme Court on Thursday reinstated noted cardiologist P Venugopal as Director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). The verdict is a personal defeat for Ramadoss who had made sacking of Venugopal as his personal agenda and used the entire might of the DMK to force the UPA Government to fall in line.Â Â

The court struck down amendment to the AIIMS Act fixing the upper age of retirement of Director at 65 years, a Ramadoss' authored script that forced Venugopal to relinquish office last year. The court's decision has made Ramadoss continuation as Health Minister untenable and the BJP was quick to seek his resignation.

Venugopal was sacked from the post of the AIIMS Director on November 29 last year, just a day after Parliament passed the AIIMS Amendment Bill, 2007.

Venugopal's remaining tenure is less than two months. He was appointed to the post of the AIIMS Director for a five-year term, which was to end on July 3, 2008.

A bench of Justices Tarun Chatterjee and HS Bedi upheld Venugopal's appeal challenging the AIIMS Amendment Act 2007, as discriminatory and brought in with mala fide intention to superannuate him due to his differences with Ramadoss.

Appearing on behalf of Venugopal, senior counsel and former Law Minister Arun Jaitley had argued that the Act was illegal as the Delhi High Court had in March last year upheld his continuation in the post and the matter was pending in the apex court. But the Centre in the meantime brought the amendment in Parliament, he said.

Within hours of the court verdict, 66-year-old Venugopal resumed charge at AIIMS. "I have always served the institute and will continue to do so for the time given to me", he said in a brief statement signed as Director, AIIMS.

Calling for Ramadoss' resignation, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said, "If Ramadoss does not resign, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should dismiss him."

Sushma said it has been established that "Manmohan Singh Government could not protect the interests of the institute of national importance." She also did not see the Supreme Court decision to strike down a law enacted by Parliament as a confrontation between the judiciary and the legislature.

"There is no confrontation because there is a well-established scheme of checks and balances envisaged by the Constitution. While the legislature enacts the law, judiciary interprets it," she said.

In this case, she said, the SC has not struck down the provision fixing the retirement age of the AIIMS Director, but only the proviso making it retrospective as it was "mala fide".

Attacking the Health Minister, she said he has "misused" Parliament to remove Venugopal from the post of Director after he did not get a favourable verdict from the High Court.

Describing the Supreme Court ruling as a "major setback" for the UPA Government, senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu said the Health Minister should quit if he has any moral left or else he should be sacked. "This is one more slap on the face of the Government," he added.

Attacking the Prime Minister, he said Singh had "failed to understand the importance of AIIMS and the immorality in bringing a legislation to target an individual when the matter is before the court". 

Ramadoss rejected the demand of his resignation saying the amendment was passed by Parliament and the Government would decide on the future course of action after going through the judgement. "We have yet to receive details of the court judgement," he said.

When the Supreme Court admitted Venugopal's plea on December 3 last year, it had expressed displeasure over his removal and described it as "unfortunate".

"Why such a reputed person is humiliated in this way?" the court had asked the Government while questioning the motive behind bringing an amendment in the AIIMS Act, when Venugopal's tenure as Director was coming to an end after six months on July 2 this year.

The court, however, had expressed "difficulty" in staying the operation of the law passed by Parliament at that time.

05-09-2008, 03:12 AM

QUOTERamadoss, it's time to pack upÂ 
Pioneer Opinion
Remorse, guilt, shame and similar emotions are unlikely to ever cross the mind of Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss. Being a publicity hound, the one-man demolition squad who has systematically destroyed India's premier medical institution, possibly revels even in the hate mail he receives. His latent sadism appears to feed on the all-round denunciation of his misplaced Gestapo-style activism against smoking and drinking apart from obsessive AIIMS-bashing. Even as the country's ramshackle public health system collapses into an abyss under his wilful neglect, Ramadoss viciously pursues his pet peeves, imposing his agenda on a frightened Union Government that trembles even before a minor party like the PMK. His arm-twisting forced a pusillanimous UPA to amend the AIIMS Act with the sole purpose of evicting its internationally renowned director, Dr P Venugopal, a piece of legislation that was bulldozed through Parliament in unseemly haste.

Now that the Supreme Court has unequivocally quashed the amended Act and reinstated Dr Venugopal, the maverick Minister has only one option: Apologise to the nation for all his shenanigans and resign from the Union Cabinet. Given his record of indecision, it may be too much to expect Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to dismiss Ramadoss from the Cabinet, although his continuation in the Ministry would amount to condoning his antics and vendetta politics. Already several unsavoury allegations of malfeasance have done the rounds about the Minister. His daily sermons to celebrities on how they should lead their lives -- homilies that are intended only to grab media space -- have not only become irritating but also counterproductive. Without any further delay, the doctor of doom must be directed to the exit door if he attempts to brazen out the apex court's stinging verdict and cling on to a job he should never have got.


He should resign. But he is shameless person and minister of spineless, shameless administration, I think his nonsense will continue till some Haryanvi give him a tight slap in front of everyone.

05-09-2008, 07:16 PM

QUOTE(Mudy @ May 9 2008, 03:12 AM)..
He should resign. But he is shameless person and minister of spineless, shameless administration, I think his nonsense will continue till some Haryanvi give him a tight slap in front of everyone.
[right][snapback]81393[/snapback][/right]


Yes, a morally superior man would (resign). But not our RomeDunce ( I just wish this morally bankrupt person wouldn't go around with a prefix 'Rama" to his name). He makes no claim to possessing either integrity or a conscience. So, he'll hold on to his post with every thing he's got. And he has the Congress - another morally bankrupt group, - to back him up and ten others like him in the 'dravida' land, as long as this (un)holy alliance will keep them in power at the center.

Besides, RomeDunce has plenty of blood-kin still waiting in the assembly line to become doctors. RomeDunce cannot afford to give up his ministerial post just yet.

05-10-2008, 09:49 AM

QUOTERamadoss linked to vaccine scam 
Pioneer.com
J Gopikrishnan | New Delhi
Helped Chennai firm get Rs 14-cr bank loan, banned vaccine production by PSUs

A Chennai-based private company, owned by a close associate of Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, was granted a Rs 14-crore bank loan for starting production of vaccines just two weeks before the Health Ministry banned vaccine production by three Central public sector undertakings (PSUs).Â Â

Ramadoss ordered the closure of vaccine production by three PSUs citing a June 2007 WHO report, which claimed that these units were using redundant technology. BCG Vaccine Lab (Chennai), Pasteur Institute (Coonoor) and Central Research Institute of Kasauli were asked to close down production on January 22. Incidentally, the private company -- Green Signal Bio Pharma -- received Rs 14 crore as loan from Union Bank of India, Chennai, for starting production of vaccines on December 27, 2007.

As bank guarantee, the private company hypothecated its vials and other products, for which it had entered into a supply contract with BCG Vaccine Lab, Chennai, a PSU under Health Ministry. This shows that the PSU facilitated procurement of the loan for a private competitor.

It is well known in Tamil Nadu's political circles that Ramadoss and the Green Signal Bio Pharma owners are close. The company's chairman and managing director, P Sundaraparipooranan, is a politician-turned-businessman. The company was registered in November 2005 but it decided to get into vaccine production only in December 2007, when Ramadoss banned the three Central PSUs.

Before Sundaraparipoornan's meteoric rise, he was a small-time office bearer in the PMK. A couple of scandals earned him good moolah, some limelight and close ties with the PMK's powers-that-be. He had faced charges of irregularity in supplying equipment to the Madurai Meenakshi Medical College and getting no-objection certificate (NOC) for educational institutes in Tamil Nadu. Sundaraparipoornan is a close associate of Ramadoss and his brother-in-law MK Vishnuprasad, a Congress MLA.

Dr N Elangeshwaran, the then director of two vaccine-making PSUs -- BCG Vaccine Laboratory, Chennai, and Pasteur Research Institute, Coonoor -- executed Ramadoss' wish to shut down vaccine production at these undertakings. His wife E Shanti is a major share holder in Vatsan Bio Pharma, which is also co-owned by Sundaraparipoornan and his wife. This company, formed in January 2006, is also a relatively new entrant in vaccine-making industry.

Elangeswaran, currently working as senior specialist (microbiology) in Central Government Health Services, Chennai, is also facing a CBI investigation into his alleged role in recruitment process. The Pioneer's investigation also establishes Elangeswaran's role in setting up the private vaccine factory of Green Signal Bio Pharma while serving as the head of the two vaccine-making PSUs. The Pioneer has copies of e-mails through which Green signal Bio Pharma consulted him about installing equipment and deciding the factory's layout.

Trade unions leaders and several others who protested against Ramadoss' decision to ban vaccine production by the PSUs allege that the Health Minister deliberately ignored the WHO's offer for assistance to upgrade the technology at the PSUs. These three PSUs were producing 90% of the total vaccines in the country.

Wrong dose
Union Health Ministry lets Green Signal Bio Pharma, a Chennai-based private firm, receive Rs 14 crore as loan from Union Bank of India, Chennai, for starting production of vaccines on December 27, 2007

Three PSUs -- BCG Vaccine Lab (Chennai), Pasteur Institute (Coonoor) and CRI (Kasauli) told to close down production on January 22

Cosy relations between Ramadoss and Green Signal Bio Pharma owners an open secret in TN political circles. The company was registered in November 2005, but decided to get into vaccine production only in December 2007

TU leaders, who opposed Ramadoss' decision to ban vaccine production, allege that the Health Minister purposefully ignored WHO offer for assistance to upgrade technology there. The PSUs were producing 90% of the nation's total vaccine output

This is beginning of Mr. fool's saga.

05-13-2008, 03:14 AM

QUOTENow, Left MP tears into Ramadoss 
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
'Resume vaccine production by PSUs, bring out white paper'

Slamming Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss' decision to close down vaccine production by three PSUs, the CPM has sought the Central Government's intervention into the matter and a white paper on the vaccine scam.Â

Reacting to a series of stories in The Pioneer, CPM MP from Madurai P Mohan has issued a statement alleging that after closing down vaccine production by the three PSUs, a move was afoot to sell their land and completely dismantle these companies.

"It is reliably learnt that a vast stretch of land available with the three closed units is under active consideration for open sale in the market with a view to generating capital for recycling, which means complete dismantling," Mohan said.

Ramadoss had ordered the closure of vaccine production by three PSUs - BCG Vaccine Lab (Chennai), Pasteur Institute of India (Coonoor) and Central Research Institute (Kasauli) - on January 15. The closure decision was backed by a WHO report in June 2007, which said that these PSUs were using redundant technology. But the same WHO report had also offered all assistance possible to upgrade the technology at these PSUs. 

Questioning the motive behind closing down vaccine production by the three leading PSUs, the CPIM MP alleged that it had been done to help private companies. "Companies like Green Signal Bio Pharma and Vatsan Bio Pharma, who have a godfather none other than the Health Minister of India, are waiting to grab the entire vaccine market by destablishing the PSUs," Mohan said.

01-26-2009, 05:34 AM

QUOTEPM to blame for reducing AIIMS to rubble
pioneer.com
Sidharth Mishra
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been successfully operated upon for his heart ailment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). On Saturday morning when the Prime Minister was being operated upon by a team of surgeons from a private hospital of Mumbai, AIIMS' leading light of open heart surgery Dr AK Bisoi was left twiddling his thumbs and sipping coffee in the cafeteria.

This was no small incident. Till a few years ago, the doctors at AIIMS were considered gods and even medics from world's best known medical schools were not allowed inside their sanctum sanctorum. But thanks to a bull inside the china shop called Anbumani Ramadoss, this unfortunate nation's incorrigible Health Minister, AIIMS today is a shadow of its glorious past.

It's not that there has been a sudden loss of competence among its faculty members. But they have been totally demoralised and their morale blown to smithereens. In the first four years of his tenure Ramadoss had a running battle with venerable heart surgeon and director of the Institute Dr P Venugopal, who resisted the Minister's attack on Institute autonomy.

Despite the humiliation of being dismissed, Venegopal fought on and restored the dignity of the Institute and his own pride by getting the High Court to quash the Ministerial fiat.

For the years that Venugopal was at the Institute, the department of cardiovascular surgery remained the flagship department of the AIIMS. Then how within a year of Venugopal's superannuation did the institute get shorn of all its competence? It's not competence but petty politics at play. Bisoi, the inheritor of Venugopal's legacy, could not have been given the opportunity of winning accolades for successfully operating upon the Prime Minister.

If the doctors from the AIIMS were not going to operate upon him, Dr Manmohan Singh would have at least saved the AIIMS faculty and doctors the embarrassment of playing second fiddle to outsiders on their home turf. After all Singh's predecessor Atal Bihari Vajpayee went to a private hospital in Mumbai to get his knee replaced. The transplant surgeon was especially flown in from the United States to carry out the surgery.

Dr Singh could also have gone to Asian Heart Institute in Mumbai for the surgery. It would have saved an eminent and promising surgeon like Bisoi the embarrassment of being denied an entry into the Institute's operation theatre, which has been his home for the past two decades. The Prime Minister can afford to get himself admitted at the AIIMS and have doctors from Mumbai to operate on him but not all the patients at the Institute. They have to depend on a proletarian Bisoi than the highest tax-paying Dr Rama Kant Panda.

Though it may sound uncharitable to accuse a sick man of his follies, Dr Manmohan Singh certainly would be judged adversely for having first allowed Anbumani Ramadoss to run amok inside AIIMS and then do his own bit by adding insult to the injured pride of institute faculty. When he recovers, the Prime Minister must mull over if he has done justice to the hallowed centre of medical research and patient care.

01-26-2009, 05:36 PM

MA degree makes IPS officer 'fit' for AIIMS PhD
QUOTENEW DELHI: Can a Master of Arts (MA) degree in archaeology make you eligible for a PhD in forensics at AIIMS? Yes, if the candidate is AIIMS's
own deputy director of administration (DDA).
In what the AIIMS faculty is saying is a gross violation of rules, the institute's DDA, Shailesh Yadav, was cleared by acting director, Dr T D Dogra, to appear for the entrance theory exam for PhD in forensic sciences
even when he does not have an MSc degree nor a masters degree in a subject allied to medical sciences.
---
Sources told TOI that the IPS official from the home state of Union health minister, Anbumani Ramadoss, also applied as an in-service candidate which would allow him to hold on to his post of DDA. The rules for applying under this category states: ''Members of the medical fraternity can apply for registration to PhD course as in-service candidate.''
--

01-26-2009, 05:48 PM

AIIMS flouts norms to give favourite a chance at forensic medicine
--
Yadav who is an IPS officer of 1994 batch from the Tamil Nadu cadre, is presently on deputation at AIIMS, wants do his PhD under the guidance of acting director Dr T.D. Dogra, who also heads the department of forensic medicine.

Paper leak allegations surface in AIIMS
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Dr Sharma and Dr Gupta, who were part of a four-member interview board for a viva-voce on Saturday, said the theory paper, which is highly medical in nature, couldn't be answered by a candidate without proper medical knowledge. "There is a strong suspicion of paper leak," they said.
TOI had reported on Friday how Yadav's application for PhD in forensic sciences was cleared by AIIMS director Dr T D Dogra, even though he did not have an MSc degree nor a masters degree in a subject allied to medical sciences
. He holds a Master of Arts (MA) degree in archaeology.
--
Dr Sharma and Dr Gupta have also given shocking details of Yadav's interview on Saturday in their letter. "He kept talking on the phone during the interview even though the panel had their mobile phones switched off. Even though Yadav is a candidate, Dr Dogra sent Raina to fetch Yadav for the interview. Three other faculty members who were originally on the interview board went on casual leave as a form of protest on Saturday," a source said.

01-26-2009, 10:51 PM

Anbumani Ramadoss had destroyed fine institute and now will destroy credibility of any certificate issued by AIIMS. Next step for Idiot Ramadoss should be destroy all private hospitals.

02-18-2009, 03:50 AM

AIIMS acting chief bats for DD(A)
The Acting Director of AIIMS is making all efforts to ensure that his sponsored candidate, the institute's Deputy Director (Administration), procures his PhD degree. TD Dogra has personally written a letter to the Examination Section of the institute.

A copy has been sent to the Academic Committee meeting on Wednesday. In the letter, a copy of which is available with The Pioneer, Dogra not only defended DD(A) Shailesh Yadav and supported his candidature, but also pointed out bias in his interview procedure. He also mentioned that the attitude of two other interviewers Dr Sudhir Gupta and Dr RK Sharma was "biased, prejudiced and unfair" thereby also contending that Yadav's candidature was dismissed despite being able to perform "satisfactorily."

The Pioneer was the first to report that the issue involving institute's DD(A) Shailesh Yadav's selection for the aforementioned course has been referred to AC. The issue has now been finally put as Item No. 4 on the agenda of the committee. The comparison of Yadav's Masters Degree in "Ancient History Culture and Archeology" has been made to Forensic Archaeology. However, the two branches are not related. "Forensic Archeology is a different branch and more related to anthropology, which is a science. However, Ancient History Culture and Archeology is a branch of humanities and not science," a Delhi University history professor said.

Further, Yadav has also written a letter to Dogra in which he has asked the latter to examine the matter wherein he is being "defamed." Subsequently, Dogra had asked the Sub-Dean (Examination), Dr AK Dinda, to place the matter before next AC and initiate action. When contacted, Dr RK Sharma, Additional Professor of Forensic Medicine, said, "We are teachers of medicine in the premier institute of the country and uphold a high standard of ethics in medical practice. Dr Dogra is voluntarily making an attempt after almost a month of the incident to divert the primary issue of question paper leakage."

Dr Sudhir Gupta, Assistant Professor in the Department, added, "We have assessed Yadav from our department as an official duty assigned by Head of the Department, Dr Dogra. We cannot imagine ourselves to be biased or unfair as we have the responsibility to uphold the dignity of this institute." He also said that Dogra is manipulating things in order to satisfy his own selfish gains and ulterior motives.

03-11-2009, 12:41 AM

QUOTERamadoss adopts scorched earth policy at AIIMS
pioneer.com
Yogita Sabberwal | New Delhi
In a parting gift to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss has appointed his camp follower and quota votary Dr Ramesh Chandra Deka as the new director of the institute. The shocking appointment was preceded by another order suspending eminent cardiac surgeon, Dr AK Bisoi.

Bisoi is a protÃ©gÃ© of former AIIMS director, Dr P Venugopal. Health Secretary Naresh Dayal announced Deka's appointment on Tuesday for a tenure of five years, while Bisoi's suspension order was announced on Monday.

Dr Deka has been the dean of AIIMS and also holds the charge of head of the ENT department. The name of Deka was cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet for the institute's prime position, which has been lying vacant ever since Dr P Venugopal retired in July last year.

The unexpected decision comes after a series of speculations and controversies in which Deka's name was brandished by various sections of the media, doubting his credentials. Deka, who is close to the Health Minister, was chosen as the dean (in 2006) when Venugopal wanted Dr KS Reddy to take over the post. The Minister had initially pushed Deka's name for the post of the acting director when the post had fallen vacant after Venugopal's retirement in July 2008.

The new director refused to comment on the suspension order served on an eminent doctor, claiming that he did not have the facts. Nonetheless, he accepted that he had taken over the charge at a âdifficultâ stage. âI have waited for this moment for over five months. Let me settle down first and look into the facts,â Deka said, apparently hinting at the controversial selection procedure in which several senior and equally eminent, if not more, colleagues were sidelined. Describing the challenges before him, Deka said, âMy foremost priorities will be patient care, research work and medical education.â

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