M Srinivas takes charge as AIIMS chief

New Delhi, September 23

The Appointments Committee of Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday appointed Rajiv Bahl, newborn and maternal health expert with a long innings at the WHO, as chief of the Indian Council of Medical Research and Secretary, Health Research, and M Srinivas as Director, AIIMS, New Delhi.

Bahl, currently Head of Research on Maternal, Newborn Child, Adolescent Health-cum-Newborn Unit, and Head, Department of Maternal, Newborn Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing, WHO, Geneva, will succeed Balram Bhargava in the post and has been appointed for three years from the date of assumption of office.

M Srinivas, currently Dean at Employees State Insurance Corporation Hospital, Ahmedabad, succeeds Randeep Guleria as AIIMS, New Delhi, chief. He assumed charge today.

Srinivas was previously professor, paediatric surgery, at AIIMS, New Delhi, before moving on to ESIC Hospital and Medical College in Hyderabad in 2016.

Under Srinivas’ leadership, ESIC Hyderabad transformed into one of India’s busiest government health facilities. Importantly, he had not applied for the post.

The order on AIIMS Director today said the appointment is “for a period of five years w.e.f. the date of assumption of charge of the post or till attaining the age of 65 years, or until further orders, whichever is the earliest.” Earlier, the ACC granted two extensions to Guleria with the ACC today saying it had had given “ex-post facto approval for continuation of Dr Randeep Guleria as Director AIIMS, New Delhi, w.e.f. March 25, 2022 for six months, or till joining of the new Director, whichever is earlier.”

Guleria was appointed AIIMS chief for five years on March 28, 2017 and received two extensions of three months each.

The ACC had sought a larger panel of probables on June 20 after the search and selection committee for AIIMS Director sent a short list featuring Nikhil Tandon, head of the department of endocrinology; Rajesh Malhotra, AIIMS Trauma Centre head and Pramod Garg, gastroenterology professor.