Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: The appointmen tof M Srinivas as a member of NITI Aayog has set off transition at AIIMS with an interim director likely to be named before govt appoints a full-time head.With his move, there is no immediate clarity on who will take charge. Officials said the selection of a full-time director could take several months, and in the interim, the institute is likely to be led by the senior-most faculty member, in line with past practice.Names doing the rounds include senior faculty such as Dr Nikhil Tandon, professor and head of endocrinology, Dr Radhika Tandon, Chief, Professor of Ophthalmology and Prof Sandeep Chauhan head of cardiac anaesthesia department, though sources cautioned that no decision has been taken yet. “There are established conventions, but nothing is final yet. Typically, the senior-most person is asked to hold charge,” a senior doctor said.Srinivas still had time left in his tenure. Officials said the government is expected to move quickly to ensure continuity.Srinivas, who took charge in Sept 2022, succeeded Randeep Guleria with his three-year tenure no seeing major controversies, though early on the institute faced a ransomware attack that crippled servers. AIIMS Delhi has traditionally favoured internal leadership, with many directors rising through the ranks. Srinivas, too, had prior links with the institute before his 2022 appointment, alhtough he had not applied for the post and was picked from a wider panel considered by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet.
