ND: Govt removes Dr Venugopal as cardiac head

New Delhi, Apr 11: In pursuant to the direction of the Delhi High Court, the Union Government has stripped AIIMS Director P Venugopal of his additional charge as head of the cardiology department and appointed Dr A Sampad Kumar in his place.

The Union Ministry of Health after studying the order of the High Court pronounced on March 29, passed the order last evening, sources said.

The order has been served on Dr Venugopal, who is also serving as the director of the premier health institute, the sources revealed.

Dr Sampad Kumar, the senior-most professor in the cardio-thorasic surgery department had been appointed to head the department.

After consulting experts, Union Health Minister and president of the AIIMS governing body Ambumani Ramadoss took the decision for the removal of Dr Venugopal from the post.

A division bench of Justices Swatanter Kumar and H.R. Malhotra had given 15 day's time to the government to act upon the order of the court.

The Court had vacated the stay over the hospital's governing body to take steps for removing him from the post of AIIMS director by adhering to the due process of law.

The bench had said: "The institute's governing body is free to proceed in accordance with the law and on the basis of the questionnaire served upon the director to which he has already replied and pass such orders with the prior approval of the government, as it may deem fit and proper in the circumstances of the case." Granting permission to the governing body to proceed against Dr Venugopal, the bench said that the governing body was the supreme decision making body and the autonomy of the institute is necessary for attaining excellence in the medical field.

UNI