AIIMS or Safdarjung hospital: Who will operate the new super speciality block?

New Delhi: In what is being termed as one of the biggest investments by the Central Government, a total sum of Rs 1,200 crore, specifically directed for the establishment of a brand new emergency and super specialty block at the Safdarjung hospital campus, a battle now ensues between AIIMS and  the hospital with regards to who will have control over the new centers.

With only 2 months remaining before the inauguration of the new blocks, the AIIMS director, MC Misra, about 2 weeks back, wrote in a letter to the Union health minister J P Nadda, proposing that they be handed over to AIIMS.

The faculty at Safdarjung hospital however, are not in favour of the director's proposal, strongly objecting to it and having deemed it as unconstitutional, have expressed their non compliance to the proposal by writing to the Union health minister themselves.

The key points of the letter, a copy of which was sent to Mail Today, are:

• "The Safdarjung Hospital and Vardhaman Medical College Teaching Faculty Association is pained by the moves being made by the director AIIMS to take over the nearly complete Super Speciality Block on the Safdarjung Hospital Campus."


• "The commissioning of the Emergency and Super Speciality Block would make Safadrjung Hospital the biggest Central government Hospital in the country."


• "The creation of the increased infrastructure is a long cherished desire of all the staff working at Safdarjung Hospital and VMMC to improve the services being provided and also increase the capacity of the hospital to service the sick and needy."


• "This increase in infrastructure would also increase the surge capacity of the hospital to cater to disaster and calamities."


• "Any attempt by AIIMS to take over the Super Speciality Block would dash all plans and hopes of the staff and the people of the country to avail the facilities of the hospital."


• "The association requests you to use your good offices to thwart such attempts by AIIMS to take over facilities being created by the government for Safdarjung Hospital."


• "The Emergency and Super Speciality block was meant to augment the services provided by the Safdarjung Hospital by increasing the number of beds, establishing stateof-the-art facilities, decongest the hospital, increase the postgraduate medical seats and provide the infrastructure for cutting edge research."