A parliamentary committee has strongly recommended the government to take necessary measures to treat the new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences at par with the premier facility in New Delhi and explore the feasibility of rotation and transfer of faculties to maintain similar quality of education as well as services. The 12th report of the Committee on Estimates on 'Review of Progress of all AIIMS' was presented in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
It highlighted that when all the new AIIMS are being governed by the AIIMS Act 1956 as amended in the year 2012, there should not be any differences in terms of delegated financial and administrative powers for procurement of equipment and in terms of having specialties and super specialties teaching in AIIMS-Delhi and other facilities.
It said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare must strictly follow the provision of the Act for appointment of Director in each new AIIMS instead of appointment of Executive Director as head. It also advised against appointment of any person above 65 years of age for heading administrative posts.
"The Committee would like to see AIIMS as an epitome of medical excellence which shall only be possible with experienced talents coupled with physical viability, which does not seem viable with an age limit of 70 years. The Committee strongly felt that the ministry should not overlook the fresh talent and the career opportunities of the existing professors for the appointment to the post of Director in new AIIMS," it stated.
Henceforth, the Committee has strongly recommended that the Ministry of Health takes all measures not to make any compromises in the qualities of new AIIMS and to ensure the objective of the PMSSY (Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana), i.e to augment quality medical education in the country and strictly adhered to the provision of the AIIMS Act.
The Committee hoped that the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance would take proactive steps for setting up of AIIMS-like institutions in each state in the next phase of PMSSY and include it in the 15th Finance Commission Report. The Committee would like the ministry to reconsider the requests from other states and take necessary steps to set up an AIIMS-like institution in each state in a time bound manner, the recommendations stated.
The Committee have strongly felt that without prescribing time lines in each action point in the guidelines for setting up of new AIIMS, the ministry would not be in a position to monitor the progress effectively and thus advised the ministry to fix prescribed timelines for each action plan and take concerted steps to adhere to them. It also urged the ministry to issue instructions/guidelines to all AIIMS who should draft and put in place a comprehensive module for online medical education for benefitting all categories of staff at AIIMS.
AIIMS-New Delhi should take a lead and help other AIIMS to develop a module of their own with the inbuilt feature of integration with different modules of other AIIMS as well, it said. "The Committee has desired that in case of any further delay in getting the clearance of land or any other issue, the ministry should bring it to the notice of the concerned Member of Parliament for taking up the matter with their respective state government," it stated.
The Committee has recommended that the issue of road connectivity should be taken up more stringently at all AIIMS and the ministry should actively monitor road conditions so that four-lane connectivity is essentially met at each AIIMS project. The Committee has urged that the ministry should take urgent steps to fill up the vacancies in time so that medical education and services do not suffer owing to shortage of faculty posts. Even the task of redrafting the reservation roster in light of EWS quota should be sped up so that faculty positions -- both regular and contractual -- are filled up regularly.
"The Committee would also recommend the ministry to explore the possibility of enlarging the ambit of 'visiting faculty' at each new AIIMS so as to enrich the medical education and guidance till the time regular posts are filled up," it said. It also recommended the ministry to take up the matter with the Ministry of Finance at the highest level for providing additional allocation as per the requirement of each AIIMS and emphasised that the ministry should ensure the full utilization of allocation.
"The Committee have recommended that the Ministry should explore the feasibility to have the provision of rotation/transfer of faculties from one AIIMS to another AllMS so that the quality of education as well as services in all the new AIIMS will be at par with AIIMS New Delhi," the report stated.
-With PTI Inputs