Left seeks amicable solution to AIIMS deadlock

New Delhi, July 6 (UNI) A day after AIIMS Director P Venugopal was sacked unceremoniously, which has triggered strike by doctors, the CPI (M) today asked the government to amicably settle the issue and made a case for withdrawal of the strike in view of the severe difficulties faced by patients.

The party Polit Bureau in a statement said the developments at the country's premier medical institution were ''unfortunate'', which do not bode well for the autonomy and integrity of AIIMS, CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury said the doctors should register their protests by other means in the larger public interest.

Mr Yechury said there have been serious developments at the institute recently when the AIIMS had become the centre for the anti-reservation movement to protest reservation's for in institutes of higher education.

The other Left parties - CPI, Forward Bloc and RSP - have sought UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's intervention to resolve the deadlock.

The CPI (M) Polit Bureau said the developments at the AIIMS are a matter of concern as it is the premier institution for medical services and research in the country.

On the role of AIIMS in the anti-quota strike, the party said the attitude of the authority running the institute did not keep in mind the fact that the reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs are a constitutional provision and that a central government institution in particular has to conform to the Constitution.

UNI KSA/FZ AK GC1455