Why pvt doctor for PM's surgery, CIC asks AIIMS

Public need to know why the insititute took outside help

Manmohan Singh, 76, underwent a coronary bypass surgery on January 24 to remove five arterial blockages. He was operated upon at AIIMS by an 11-member panel of doctors led by Ramakant Panda of the Asian Heart Institute (AHI), Mumbai. The Prime Minister was discharged from hospital on February 1.

The decision to ask for the information came on an appeal filed by Jagdish Chander Jetli, who had asked All India Institute of Medical Sciences why Panda was chosen to conduct the Prime Minister’s heart surgery.

“Information pertaining to the details including expertise of Ramakant Panda and other team members from the AHI Mumbai are not available in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences hospital records, and hence it is not possible to provide the same,” the hospital replied to Jetli’s query.

Joint decision

AIIMS, however, maintained that it had its own experts to conduct the surgery and such operations were being conducted at the premier institute for the last three decades.
It added that the decision to invite Panda was taken “jointly by the Prime Minister Office and family members of the Prime Minister”.

The Information Commissioner Annapurna Dixit further directed: “The appellant also to be informed about how the decision to invite Panda to conduct the surgery was arrived at and for what reasons and also be provided with minutes of any meetings in this connection, available with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, by June 20.”

Jetli contended before the CIC that “The public has the right to know why a premier institute such as the AIIMS, which is staffed by the best doctors in the country and with the best of medical facilities, had to invite a doctor from outside to conduct the operation in its premises. This is a matter of great concern to the public and inviting a doctor from another institute has eroded the reputation of All India Institute of Medical Sciences.”