New Delhi: The Centre has made “no sincere and worthwhile effort” in providing reservation to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes candidates in super-specialty courses at AIIMS Delhi, a report by the Parliamentary Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, tabled in the Lok Sabha Tuesday, said.
Emphasising the need for reservation for SC and ST candidates in super-specialty academic courses at India’s premier medical institute, the panel, headed by BJP MP Kirit Premjibhai Solanki, said that the existing reservation policy is “adversely affecting the interests of SCs and STs”.
If this is not done, the institute will not get a sufficient number of candidates for super-specialty faculty posts, for which there is a reservation policy, the committee said in its Action Taken Report.
In it, the committee expressed concern over the “complacent stance” of AIIMS Delhi regarding the issue of not providing reservations to SC and ST candidates in its super-specialty courses.
This came after the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had informed the committee that reservation is not provided in super-specialty academic courses in line with the Delhi High Court’s order dated 8 July, 1997.
Expressing concern over the ministry’s stance for not providing reservation in super-specialty courses, the parliamentary committee said that the non-provision for reservation policy in super-specialty academic courses adversely affects the interests of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. “The committee observes that no sincere and worthwhile efforts have been made to address this issue in the Court of Law such as filing an appeal in the High Court as seen from the action taken reply,” the report said.
According to the Union health ministry, AIIMS currently has seven SC and five ST faculty members working in super-specialty disciplines like surgical oncology, neuro-anesthesia, cardiac-anesthesia, neurosurgery, and pulmonary Medicines.
It further said that provisions are in place to provide financial support to faculty members to undergo specialised training, attend seminars etc. abroad. “In last four years, 70 faculty members (SC-59 & ST-11) who applied were permitted for various events abroad at this institute,” the report quoted the ministry as saying.
The panel asked the ministry to take up the matter in “right earnest to the highest authority and also make worthwhile efforts to ensure meaningful and full implementation of the reservation policies in such super-specialty fields in letter and spirit”.
ThePrint has reached out to Health Secretary Apurva Chandra through WhatsApp for a comment. The report will be updated as and when a response is received.
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Reservation needed to have SC and ST super-specialty as faculty
While there is no reservation for candidates in super-specialty courses at AIIMS, the institute has a policy for providing reservation to SC and ST in all disciplines of specialties and even in faculty positions for super-specialists.
Super specialists are doctors who have specialised in a discipline.
However, the committee observed that the institute will not get sufficient candidates for super-specialty faculty posts unless reservation is also provided in super-specialty academic sources.
“The Committee feels that when there is no reservation in super-specialty courses there is not much significance in having reservation in faculty posts for all such super-specialty disciplines since there will be very negligible or no presence of SC/ST candidates for such faculty posts,” the panel said.
Like SC and ST, there is no reservation for OBC candidates in super-specialty courses. This matter was highlighted by the Parliamentary Committee on Welfare of Other Backward Classes in its report tabled in the Parliament in December last year.
Pointing to the shortage in OBC representation in faculty positions of super-specialty at AIIMS Delhi and six other AIIMS, the house committee recommended that provision for reservation in academic courses for super-specialty be made.
“The Committee recommend in no uncertain words that all possible avenues may be looked into so that this issue reaches finality and provision for reservation for OBCs in admission in super specialty courses in medical educational colleges/institutions be made which will definitely increase the availability of OBC candidates for filling up posts in super-specialty services in future,” the committee, headed by BJP MP Rajesh Verma, had recommended.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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