Anbumani sets timeframe to hold convocation
New
Delhi,
Aug
30:
Union
Health
Minister
Anbumani
Ramadoss
today
said
he
had
directed
AIIMS
Director
P
Venugopal
to
hold
a
convocation
within
a
month
to
present
pending
degrees
to
the
students,
who
have
been
on
agitation
on
the
issue
of
delay
in
the
award
of
degrees.
Making
a
suo
motu
statement
in
the
Lok
Sabha
on
the
strike
by
the
resident
doctors,
who
have
paralysed
the
functioning
of
the
country's
premier
health
institute
in
the
last
two
days,
Dr
Ramadoss
said
he
had
also
asked
the
director
to
take
necessary
steps
to
ensure
that
the
strike
was
called
off
and
the
patient
care
service
restored
immediately.
''My utmost sympathy is with the students who are waiting for the award of degrees for more than two years which is primarily due to a delay in holding a convocation,' Dr Ramadoss said, while directly blaming the Director, with whom he has been at loggerheads, for the delay.
He said an AIIMS convocation was organised every year, sometime in February when the degrees were awarded to successful students.
''The degrees shall bear signatures of President, Director, Dean and the Registrar of AIIMS,'' he said, highlighting the procedure followed.
In this context, he pointed a finger at the Director for not organising the convocation for the last two years.
However, as a special case considering the requirement of original degrees for students appearing in USMLE, USA, 54 MBBS degrees of 2005 were signed by all concerned to be awarded to the students. Similarly for the year 2006 also, 49 MBBS degrees were forwarded by the Director on August 2007 for his (minister) signature as AIIMS president.
These degrees were signed, among others, by a certain Dr Sandeep Aggarwal as Registrar of the Institute, whereas the Registrar appointed by the Governing Body was Mr V P Gupta. The Governing Body, the appointing authority for Registrar under the AIIMS Regulations, has decided to allow Mr Gupta to continue as Registrar in its meetings in January and May this year.
Since the degrees were signed by a person other than Mr Gupta, Dr Ramadoss said he had returned the degrees to the Director asking him to 'rectify' the mistake at the earliest.
''Any degree signed by an unauthorised person will render the degree illegal and invalid,'' Dr Ramadoss pointed out, while regretting that the resident doctors resorted to a strike without appreciating his concern for their future.
The BJP-led Opposition created furore in the House, blaming Dr Ramadoss for the crisis in the AIIMS, when he stood up to make the statement.
Since the BJP members continued to interrupt Dr Ramadoss, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee asked the Minister to lay the statement on the table of the House and adjourned the House for a lunch break.
UNI