New Delhi:

The director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, has withdrawn his letter that listed the special arrangements for MPs and those recommended by them at the country’s foremost government hospital. Doctors’ associations and activists had criticised the “VIP culture”, while the institute had said these were just the SOPs or Standing Operating Procedures for MPs.

In an apparent bid to counter the “VIP” charge, the AIIMS had also tweeted that it has “always had a 24×7 control room for co-ordination of medical care of patients from all walks of life”, adding that staff is deployed to “expedite treatment for poorest of the poor”.

Large crowds and long queues are a routine at the overworked AIIMS, where it sometimes takes hours to get the consultation card made for OPD. The Emergency, too, is often pressed to the limits.

“We Condemn VIP Culture”: Doctors Oppose AIIMS SOPs For Treatment Of MPs https://t.co/YoO9NhTcgZpic.twitter.com/v8x8KMBRxX

— NDTV (@ndtv) October 21, 2022

The since-withdrawn letter — from AIIMS Director to the Lok Sabha Joint Secretary — spoke of streamlining the Outpatient Department (OPD), emergency consultation, and hospitalisation services specifically for MPs.

One of its 11 points was that “all other patients” referred to AIIMS by MPs “will be provided due assistance by the Media and Protocol Division”.

In case the MP needs OPD consultation, their staff only needs to share the details with the AIIMS duty officer, said Dr M Srinivas’s letter to YM Kandpal. The duty officer will then speak to the doctor and fix the appointment, it said. “In case it is so required, we can speak to the Chief of Centre or Head of the concerned department as well,” it added.

Similar call-the-duty-officer special service is available for emergency situations, the letter said.

It had got an angry reaction from the Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association or FORDA. “The only VIP culture we know is this — the more a patient is critical , the more she or he is a VIP for us. This order should be withdrawn,” said Dr Sarvesh Pandey, General Secretary, FORDA, who works at another government hospital in Delhi.