Content area
Full Text
An attempt by India's health minister to dismiss the director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi has polarised its staff. The attempt comes amid charges of bad administration and countercharges of political interference at India's top teaching hospital.
The minister, Anbumani Ramadoss, who is also the president of the institute, last week moved at a meeting of the institute's governing body to dismiss the director, Panangipalli Venugopal, a cardiothoracic surgeon. The resolution was reportedly approved by a majority of the members present.
The move to dismiss the doctor triggered a two day strike by resident doctors training at the institute and sections of the teaching staff, who shut down the hospital,...