By IANS,
New Delhi : The search for a director for the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) continues as a committee formed to find a suitable person to head the prestigious institute Thursday failed to take a decision.
Though Health Secretary Naresh Dayal refused to reveal the names of the hot contender from among the 69 applications received, sources said K.K. Talwar, the current head of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGI) in Chandigarh, and Salim Yusuf are being considered.
Yusuf is currently Director of the Population Health Research Institute at McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton in Canada.
Health Secretary Naresh Dayal told reporters after the over two-hour-long meeting of the search and selection committee that two members were not present during the meeting, including secretary of higher education R.P. Aggarwal.
The committee is headed by Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, who had been involved in a bitter turf war with former AIIMS director P. Venugopal, who was sacked after the government brought in a legislation fixing the age of retirement at 65 years. He was reinstated on the orders of the Supreme Court. The cardiac surgeon retired earlier this month.
“We met and discussed the applications of the 69 applicants,” Dayal said.
He said four applications were rejected as they had not supplied medical degrees.
“We have considered applicants above 60 years as well as those below 60 years. The committee will meet again after two weeks,” he added.