Panel begins process for appointment of next AIIMS Director

NEW DELHI: With AIIMS Director Dr M C Mishra set to retire on January 31, a five-member panel led by Union Health Secretary C K Mishra today initiated the process to shortlist names for the post.

According to sources, the members of the search-cum- selection committee met at Nirman Bhawan here and were given the CVs of all the 53 candidates who have applied for the post.

"The members have been asked to go through the CVs of all the 53 applicants and shortlist 20 candidates out of them.

"In the next meeting, the members will deliberate on the shortlisted candidates to reach a conclusion. All 53 of them will be considered," a highly placed source at the Health Ministry said.

Apart from Health Secretary Mishra, who is the chairperson of the panel, the committee comprises Prime Minister's Principal Scientific Adviser R Chidambaram, secretary in Department of Health Research Soumya Swaminathan, Director General of Health Services Jagdish Prasad and Vice Chancellor of Delhi University Yogesh Tyagi.

"The committee will shortlist a few names, which will then have to be approved by the Institute Body before being sent to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by the Prime Minister for final approval," a senior official at the premier medical institute said.

Last month, AIIMS had recommended a search-cum-selection committee headed by Union Health Minister J P Nadda which was rejected by the DoPT.

The PMO had then ordered reconstitution of the search panel based on DoPT guidelines.

According to sources, 53 eminent doctors, including 35 candidates from outside AIIMS, have applied for the Director's post and the screening of applications is complete.

The main contenders for the top post include Dr V K Paul, head of the department (HOD) of paediatrics, Dr Randeep Guleria, HOD of pulmonary medicine and sleep disorders, Dr Alka Kriplani, HOD of obstetrics and gynaecology, Dr A B Dey, HOD of geriatric medicine, and AIIMS medical superintendent Dr D K Sharma.

The outside candidates include KGMU Chancellor Dr Ravi Kant, ex-director of AIIMS, Rishikesh Dr Rajkumar, Director of JIPMER Dr Subhash Chandra Parija and Dr Rasik Vajpayee, the nephew of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, sources said, adding a few doctors, based abroad, have also applied for the post.