While the ruling political dispensation is making tall claims about the outstanding health services in the national capital and at the pan India level including making more AIIMS in various states – the BJP union minister of health J.P.Nadda dedicates more time on the organisational matters than exclusively concentrating on health matters say his political detractors and opponents.
What is even more worrisome is the fact that on August 13 in a parliament query the union ministers state for health has replied that 429 doctors have quit the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences institutions between 2022 to 2024 which unambiguously indicate their degenerating conditions and the losing interests of doctors in these once prestigious institutions after completing their MBBS and MDs.
Enumerating the reasons the state minister of health Prataprao Jaghav replied that the doctors cited personal and professional reasons behind their quitting from their present jobs.
What is important here to mention is the fact that while the rush of patients in Delhi AIIMS in particular and other AIIMS has increased manifold, resignations of senior and experienced doctors is highly worrisome.
According to the reply of the minister of state for health, the maximum number of doctors ( faculty members) have resigned from the AIIMS Delhi which is the first and oldest institution catering to the maximum number of patients from all over India.
Their number is 52 followed by 38 resignations from AIIMS Rishikesh. 35 faculty members resigned from IIMS Raipur while 32 left from AIIMS , Bilaspur , Himachal Pradesh.
The AIIMS Delhi came into existence in the year 1956 during Jawaharlal Nehru’s prime ministership as a frontrunner Medical Institute.
Taking inspiration from the success of this institution catering to the treatment of millions of patients from various states of the country successfully , six other AIIMS were conceptualized during Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s regime and rest built up after 2014.
After the entry of medical tourism in the country many super speciality high profile hospitals have come up charging exorbitant fees from the patients and paying lucrative salaries to the doctors many times higher than what they get in government hospitals.
While many doctors of AIIMS who have resigned have joined luxurious highly paid hospitals for want of handsome salaries and perks while some have opened their own nursing homes or clinics charging exorbitantly from the patients.
Among the senior doctors who have resigned before their retirement is the former Director of AIIMS Dr. Randeep Guleria joining the expensive hospital Medanta in Gurugram. The chief of the Cardiology department of AIIMS Dr. Shiv Choudhary has quit his service to join Fortis Escorts, the chief of the Neuro Surgery department of AIIMS Delhi, Professor ( Dr.) Shashank Kale has resigned to join Appollo hospital. Similarly , the chief of the Nation Cancer institute Dr. Alok Thakker and chief of the Institute of Cancer hospital Dr. Sushma Bhatnagar too has resigned after rendering 35 years of service.
It may be recalled that the private high profile hospitals are paying ten times more salaries n perks to the senior doctors and surgeons of the government hospitals as they bear tremendous experience and had become famous in their profession with patients having immense faith in their treatment relying immensely on their credibility. This trend is nothing new.
After the era of new high profile private super speciality hospitals coming into existence in the national capital and other states , the chain of doctors resigning from government hospitals to join them in view of handsome salaries and perks have started quite before though for government hospitals it’s not a good sign as it affects the health of the poor and lower name for class patients who solely bank on these hospitals for cheap and free treatments.
