PMK trying to take control of JIPMER Hospital, charges Jaya

Chennai, Sep 19: All India Anna DMK (AIADMK) general secretary and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today charged the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) with trying to ''take control'' of the JIPMER Hospital in Puducherry by securing autonomous status to the Instituion.

Offering party's support to the ongoing agitation against autonomous status being given to the Hospital, Ms Jayalalithaa, in a strongly worded statement here, alleged Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss was keen on getting autonomous status to JIPMER, so that his party could take complete control of the administration.

In the garb of autonomous status, the Minister was planning to appoint a 22-member committee, packed with his ''own men'' to run the administration of the hospital and ensure that the Centre's annunal assistance of Rs 104 crore was directly given to the committee, she charged.

Ms Jayallalithaa said the erstwhile French Government, while handing over the administration of the hospital to the Indian government, had made it very clear that there should be no change in the administration set up and the hospital should continue to function for the benefit of poor people.

The PMK founder leader Dr S Ramadoss and his son Anbumani ramadoss may not be interested in honouring the agreement entered into between the two governments, about 50 years ago, but the Indian government had the responsibility to honour the pact, she said.

Utilsing the Centre's annual assistance of Rs 104 crore, JIPMER, which specialised in cancer treatment, was doing yeoman service to the poor people and was offering free medical service to the needy. However, once it became an autonomous institution, JIPMER would become ''richmen hospital'' as the committee would take total control, she said.

The JIPMER Medical college had 75 MBBS seats and 60 MD and MS seats and once it became autonomous, meritorious students would find it difficult to get admissions, Ms Jayalalithaa said.

Alleging that the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu, like the PMK, had the same line of thinking in promoting its family, Ms Jayalalithaa said the Congress in the state was also not opposing JIPMER being given autonomous status as the TNCC President M Krishnasamy, happened to be the father-in-law of Dr Anbumani Ramadoss.

The staff of JIPMER and the general public in the Union territory had launched an agitation, not to protect their personal interest, but to protect the premier Medical Institution, the Medical college and the poor people, who throng the hospital for treatment.

But the PMK, DMK and the Congress parties were trying to crush the agitation, she said and offered AIADMK's full support to the agitation.

UNI