'Government needs to revisit AIIMS autonomy'

The autonomy of AIIMS needs to be revisited, as the institute has not progressed the way it should have, the parliamentary standing committee on health and family welfare said on Tuesday.

"The issue of autonomy of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) needs to be revisited by the Centre immediately and powers should be delegated at the institute-level to facilitate quick decision-making and optimal growth as a premier medical university," said the report of the committee submitted to the Rajya Sabha.

The committee also recommended that the growth of the hospital needs to be fast tracked.

As far as vacancies and appointments were concerned, the committee said that in spite of providing ample budgetary support, in-position strength of faculty was 594 against the sanctioned strength of 826, and that of non-faculty was 201 against the sanctioned strength of 347.

The committee exhorted AIIMS to streamline its recruitment policy so as to ensure that before approaching the government for creating posts, AIIMS should at least ensure that the sanctioned posts are filled up within a targetted timeline.