“In view of our order passed in the writ petition, the writ petitioner shall serve the nation for some more period, ie, up to 2nd of July, 2008. We direct the AIIMS authorities to restore the writ petitioner in his office as Director of AIIMS till his period comes to an end on 2nd of July, 2008.”
The Supreme Court’s indulgence is apparent in its judgement in the Ramadoss vs Venugopal tussle. Dr P Venugopal had petitioned the court to stay the amended Act of 2007 for New Delhi’s All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Chandigarh’s Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) – stay the retrospective implementation of the proviso applicable to him and enable him to continue as Director of AIIMS till 03.07.2008. The judgement, delivered by Justices Tarun Chatterjee and Harjit Singh Bedi on May 8, 2008, gave Venugopal a fresh lease of life in AIIMS to carry on his autocratic dispensation.
His reinstatement was celebrated by his coterie (with firecrackers, in utter disregard for indoor patients) though the media projected it as jubilation by the entire staff. In fact, a majority of the faculty and staff have been watching the developments with disbelief and disgust as the primary activities—teaching, research and care of patients—have been relegated to the background and the disintegration of a premier institute is being effected.
In a typical juxtaposition of his interests vis-à-vis the institute’s, Venugopal sent out a signed circular on the day of his reinstatement, saying: “I once again thank all concerned including the media for supporting the AIIMS.”
Elected parliamentarians differed from the court’s view. Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the legislation was surprising and extra-constitutional. “Populism and correctness are different things,” he said. During the November 22, 2007 debate in the House on the Bill to amend the Act, members were concerned and angry at the state of affairs in AIIMS. Variously, members who defended the Bill said the following: “The Bill should be passed as early as possible because the situation is deteriorating every day.…The Director cannot be allowed to exercise all autocratic powers in the name of autonomy….The Institute is functioning at the whims of the Director….This Director should be removed as soon as possible…he has divided the Institute on caste lines….He has insulted our Constitution….It is a very serious matter….This Director’s continuation is not in the interest of our democracy…he should not only be removed but also should be arrested and severely punished as per law for all that he has done….”
Venugopal’s next service to the nation was the postponement of a scheduled viva/interview of senior resident doctors whose appointments have been pending since July 2007 due to a discriminatory practice introduced at AIIMS with his support. This practice was put in place to eliminate through viva any candidate they did not like even if s/he scored 90 per cent in the written test. The governing body has since directed a changeover to a more rational procedure.
Then, with much tom-tomming, Venugopal operated on George Majeed, a Pakistani child with a hole in the heart. This is a common condition and the department performs about 400 such operations in a year. The surgery certainly did not require Venugopal’s expertise, every heart surgeon does it. The child was admitted on May 6 and, according to the operating surgeon, Dr AK Bisoi, he needed urgent surgery and any delay would have made the case “inoperable”. Strangely, the patient was kept waiting for Venugopal to be reinstated on May 8 and the surgery was finally done on May 10. The media made much of it but, interestingly, not a single reporter or TV camera recorded Venugopal’s statement that he personally conducted the surgery. Insiders are intrigued as to how a person who cannot stand for even 10 minutes at a stretch performed a two-hour surgery.
But Venugopal has long been known as a master of publicity and one capable of taking the entire nation for a ride. In 2005, he told a national daily that he had achieved a “global first” in stem cell therapy for heart patients. The paper’s February 25 edition carried three long stories detailing Venugopal’s claims about his experiment on 35 patients. There was no clearance for his research, no protocol, no scientific documentation and no published paper in any indexed journal.
There was a hue and cry among the community. Nature published a story commenting on the absence of a regulatory mechanism in India in the field of sensitive medical research. Readers wrote to the newspaper for more details, stating that the story was totally misleading. The newspaper did not carry a single letter against the stories; the renowned surgeon was evasive; and no one knows what happened to those 35 patients.
To return to Venugopal’s deeds after his reinstatement. He summoned Dr TD Dogra, the seniormost professor who officiated as Director during his absence, and subjected him to intimidation by his personal lawyer and a senior faculty member. Dogra has made a written complaint and the matter is with the PMO and the Police Commissioner.
Though Venugopal is perceived as a messiah for heart patients, facts tell a different story. As chief of the cardio-thoracic centre since 1983, he used the place as his fiefdom to extract every possible benefit. Despite clear rules, he overcharged patients and collected over Rs 40 crore. He operated a parallel illegal account and purchased equipment worth crores of rupees without any authority. The equipment also lacked utility for patients. The Director General of Audit (Central Revenues) commented on this irregular fund but the government has chosen to keep quiet.
During the five months – December 2007 to April 2008 – when Venugopal was out of AIIMS and the cardio-thoracic and vascular surgery (CTVS) department, the latter performed more surgeries than in the preceding 10 months when he was busy staging his anti-Ramadoss battle to the delight of a national audience and a section of the media.
The department also registered another record during his absence. The robotic equipment for heart surgery was purchased for Rs 7 crore in 2002 by Venugopal as head of the department. In the first couple of months, it was tried out on five patients. Then it was dumped. According to Venugopal, it was unsuitable for the type of patients AIIMS gets. Use of the machine was revived in his absence and, in the first four months of this year, the department performed eight robotic surgeries. Escorts Heart Institute, which also procured the equipment around the same time, performed over 100 robotic procedures in a year.
It is said that none is above the law. But Venugopal has proved this wrong. Those concerned about AIIMS blame a weak government, irresponsible Opposition, lopsided media and immature Health Minister for the present mess. At least three police complaints against Venugopal are pending for over a year. Delhi Police would not register an FIR against a VIP. And now, either by design or coincidence, Venugopal has got the protection of the courts. Clearly, he has proved that he is above the law.
