By IANS,
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court’s vacation bench Friday refused to hear a petition a nine-year-old heart patient’s mother moved for extending the tenure of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) director P. Venugopal. It will now be taken up by the high court’s regular bench July 2.
A vacation bench headed by Justice Rajiv Shakdher, after hearing the brief arguments, posted the matter to a regular bench for July 2. That is the date Venugopal’s term as AIIMS director ends.
Filing a petition through her counsel Sugriv Dubey, petitioner Mira Mishra said her son’s treatment would remain incomplete if Venugopal retired as scheduled on July 2.
“We argued before the bench that if his tenure won’t be extended, then it would be an infringement of the rights of patients, who are presently under his treatment,” Sugriv Dubey told IANS.
Mishra said her son was suffering from heart problem as one of the valves of his heart was not functioning properly and Venugopal and his team have been treating the boy since his birth. We were assured that the final treatment would be given to him in January this year, she added.
“When I approached the hospital for final treatment in January, I was told that the noted heart surgeon was removed from the post,” she said.
Following the apex court judgement reinstating him to the post of AIIMS director, Mishra said she again approached the hospital for treatment of the child.
However, she said, Venugopal’s term will come to end July 2, before the completion of her son’s treatment. She moved the high court to demand Venugopal’s term be extended by six months.