AIIMS faculty Association demands urgent implementation of Rotation of Headship, threatens protest

New Delhi: Expressing their anguish over the delay in the implementation of the 'Rotation of Headship' policy at the premier health institute, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, members of the Faculty Association of AllMS (FAIMS) Delhi wrote a letter to the director of the institute Prof M Srinivas threatening to go on a protest if the rotatory headship' is not implemented in the institute immediately.

The FAIMS general body said implementing this policy is essential for transparency and accountability in the governance of the institute. The FAIMS also said the constitution of a committee of external experts to consider 'Rotation of Headship' was "unnecessary and unwarranted", expressing their anguish over the delay in the implementation of the 'Rotation of Headship' policy in departments at the institute. 

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"In the health of good governance, FAIMS GB unanimously resolved to go on a protest if rotatory headship is not implemented soon," the letter said. It was signed by Prof Achal Kumar Srivastava and general secretary Dr Harshal Ramesh Salve. 

Around two months back, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) had set up a six-member expert panel on August 18 to consider the proposal of rotation of headship after every five years in departments and centres, which was reported by the Medical Dialogues team. The proposal regarding the policy of ''rotational headship' was discussed in the central institute body (CIB) meeting held on June 16 last year under the chairmanship of the Union health minister, according to an earlier notification.

The notification said, "The CIB had decided there were detailed deliberations on this issue. Some of the members shared their experience with the system of rotatory headship." It further said, "The chairman expressed that the proposal needs to be examined further for its advantage and disadvantage and smooth functioning of Departments in AIIMS, Delhi, and desired that a new committee may be constituted with people of eminence as members who do not have any conflict of interest in the matter." 

It was decided that the six-member committee would approach various government institutions in the medical field as well as other fields where this system has been adopted and seek feedback from these institutions.

"Based on these deliberations, this committee may be requested to give recommendations of the applicability of this system for well-established institutions like AIIMS, Delhi & PGI, Chandigarh. This committee may also give recommendations about the applicability of this system for new AIIMS who are at different stages of development," the document said.

Accordingly, the President, of AIIMS, New Delhi constituted the committee to consider the proposal of 'Rotation of Headship'. The committee members are Dr V K Paul, Member (NITI Aayog); Dr K K Talwar and Dr Jagat Ram, both former director of PGIMER, Chandigarh; Dr M C Misra, former Director of AIIMS, Delhi; Dr V M Katoch, former DG (ICMR) and President JIPMER; and Dr Abhay Karandikar, Director of IIT Kanpur, whose first meeting was held on October 12 under the chairmanship of Niti Ayog member Dr VK Paul. 

During the first meeting, the members had decided to take feedback from institutions where this policy of headship rotation is currently ongoing like JPIMER in Puducherry, and NIMHANS in Bangalore. Further, the meeting held that they would take the opinion of the faculty associations in the institute before taking a final decision, as per a media report in the Times of India. 

The 'Rotation of Headship' after every five years is one of the key recommendations of the M S Valiathan committee which was constituted to suggest measures for improving the functioning of AIIMS during the Congress dispensation in 2006-2007.

The issue of rotating headship came to the governing body and institute body of AIIMS on several occasions in the past, but because of its "negative repercussions", it was never implemented, some doctors said. The contentious was discussed earlier at the governing body (GB) meeting chaired by former health minister J P Nadda in 2017.

Several faculty members of the premier institute are against the implementation of the rotation of headships and other recommendations of the Valiathan committee report, which was criticized in the 87th report of the Rajya Sabha Parliamentary Standing Committee and by members of Parliament

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