After backlash, AIIMS withdraws letter on 'special' treatment for MPs

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has withdrawn its letter that authorised special arrangement for parliamentarians, after facing heavy backlash from the medical fraternity.

AIIMS director M Srinivas, in a letter to YM Kandpal, joint secretary, Lok Sabha Secretariat on Monday (October 17), had said that duty officers (medical professionals) from the department of hospital administration will available in the AIIMS control room round the clock to coordinate and facilitate arrangements for MPs who get admitted.

Informing Kandpal that certain Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) will followed in the admission, treatment and care of sitting members of Parliament, the AIIMS director said MPs will have a duty officer as their single point nodal officer who would assist them in all medical procedures – from getting details of the ailment, establishing contact with concerned specialist/superspecialist to ensuring that the parliamentarian gets immediate attention in an emergency situation.

Also read: Doctors slam ‘special’ medical care services for Parliamentarians at AIIMS

Doctors’ associations and activists slammed the decision, stating that it encouraged “VIP culture,” and asserting that every patient needed care and it was unfair to make special arrangements for MPs.

“We have always been against VIP culture in hospitals, and we stand by that,” said Dr Roshan Krishnan, president of the Federation of All India Medical Association.

The hospital, however, had clarified that the letter just outlined the Standard Operating Procedures.

The management, in a tweet, also said that it “always had a 24×7 control room for co-ordination of medical care of patients from all walks of life,” and hospital staff are always on their toes to “expedite treatment for the poorest of the poor.”