AIIMS RDA warns Ramadoss on entering campus

New Delhi, May 8: In tit-for-tat action, the AIIMS RDA today warned Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss and his OSD D S Murthy against entering the campus, the same way senior faculty was not allowed to participate in the Governing Body meeting yesterday.

''The Health Minister has to realise that he cannot insult our Director and senior faculty.... Yesterday's incident is condemnable.

We will not allow both of them inside the campus,'' said AIIMS RDA General Secretary Anil Sharma.

Just minutes before the AIIMS Governing Body meeting yesterday senior AIIMS faculty members were not allowed to attend the meeting in Nirman Bhawan, which the RDA and Faculty claim was on orders of the OSD.

A scuffle broke out between the security personnel and the faculty and RDA members.

The AIIMS Governing Body, chaired by Dr Ramadoss, decided to issue a showcause notice to the AIIMS Faculty Association for ''casting aspersions'' on it.

The Meeting asked AIIMS Director P Venugopal to implement the decisions taken at the earlier Governing Body meeting and submit the Compliance report.

Dr Ramadoss and Dr Venugopal are locked in a turf war over the world-renowned healthcare institute.

The Faculty Association, RDA and Students' Union strongly condemned the decision of the Governing body, saying the democratically elected organisations of AIIMS cannot be ''muzzled''.

''This gag order is not acceptable...we condemn the attempts to subvert democracy,'' they said in a joint statement.

Criticising Health Secretary Naresh Dayal, they said the statement issued by him was against the AIIMS Act and the vision envisaged for the institution by its founders.

The Associations called upon Prime Minister Manmohan Singh members of Parliament and the people of India to join them in condemning the ''attack on democracy''.

Mr Dayal and Dr Venugopal, after the meeting had come to brief the media, but once the decision to issue a show-cause notice to the Faculty Association was announced, the Director and other faculty members left the venue in protest.

UNI