Messy RIMS dims AIIMS status dreams
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: December 30, 2022 -

AT a time when there is undeclared health emergency in the country amid rising cases of Covid-19 in different countries and the Union government advising states and union territories to ramp up the healthcare infrastructure, it's a pity that the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) is presently functioning without a regular director and encountering administrative issues.

For the record, the top post has been rendered vacant after a decree passed by a single bench of the Manipur High Court on December 19 quashed the appointment order of RIMS director Prof L Ranjit after another contender for the post approached the court.

Subsequent to the court's ruling and despite expectation that the ministry concerned would act swiftly, the medical institute is literary reduced to an orphan.

While it is possible that processes are underway to appoint a regular director as interview for the same had been conducted on December 22, it is the time taken to identify the fittest candidate even after completion of the formal process over a week ago which is a cause of serious concern for the public.

No doubt, basic healthcare services shall have to continue at any cost even if the top administrative posts remain vacant for there would be serious uproar and condemnations from different sections of the society in case of the slightest hint of duty negligence by the medical professionals.

Nevertheless, if the administrative mechanism continues to remain in a state of dormancy and salary issues crop up then it obvious that the staffers would raise a hue and cry and consequently affect the treatment process.

The situation besieging RIMS is even more ironical considering the fact that authorities of the premier medical institute as well as ministers and government officials had been pledging to do the needful for upgrading RIMS to the status of AIIMS.

It needs no reminding that the Union government representatives too had been assuring of accelerating development of healthcare system in the north-eastern states along with other basic infrastructure and gloating over increase in fund allocation for the region compared to the past regimes.

Accepted that the centre's generosity in funding developmental projects has resulted in notable improvement in diverse sectors but the failure to appoint a regular director or in-charge to look after such an important institute like the RIMS is uncalled for.

With absence of a regular director or caretaker scuttling process of official files, it could be safely stated that in case the administrative lapses continue then it would definitely affect the budgetary allocation for the medical institute since the ministry would insist on submission of utilisation certificates for the fund amount already sanctioned.

Cursorily, there seems to be hardly any serious issue in naming the director for the process merely entails selection from among the senior most faculty members or simply follow the rule book, in case of any complicacies.

As the annual budget for RIMS is around Rs 300 crore, any reduction in the fund allocation would eventually mean derailment of the on-going infrastructure development projects being implemented with the stated objective of upgrading the institute so as to ensure the public have access to better healthcare services as had been promised multiple times.