Faculty members of AIIMS holding a protest march to parliament with a demand to implement rotatory headship,in New Delhi on Friday.Express Photo by
Center-Center-DelhiNEW DELHI: Police on Friday allegedly shut the main entry gate of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to prevent faculty members residing on the campus from marching to Parliament as part of a peaceful protest.
The gate, which is also used by emergency patients, remained closed for nearly an hour and a half. It was reopened after the protesting doctors dispersed from the site.
“We had not granted permission for the march. To maintain law and order, the gate was closed to dissuade the doctors from leaving the premises,” a senior police officer present at the location said.
The march was held to protest the non-implementation of the rotatory headship policy at AIIMS. Despite a directive from the Union Health Ministry making the policy mandatory across all medical institutes two years ago, AIIMS Delhi has yet to enforce it.
“The institute opposite us, Safdarjung Hospital and VMMC, implemented the policy last year. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital has also adopted it. Then why is it not being implemented at AIIMS or PGI Chandigarh? Why is the Centre listening to a small vested group instead of the majority of the faculty?” asked Dr Amarinder Singh Malhi, General Secretary of the Faculty Association of AIIMS (FAIMS).
Later, the protesting faculty members met with the AIIMS Director for a dialogue.
“Representatives from FAIMS were called by the Director and Additional Deputy Director (Administration) to discuss the way forward. We conveyed the collective concerns and the urgency felt by the faculty. They assured us that efforts would be made to reach a positive and time-bound resolution,” the association said in a statement.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had issued an official order in July 2023 mandating implementation of the rotatory headship policy by June–July 2024.