AIIMS has levied a penalty on the security agency through which the guard was hired, it stated in its official statement on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Dhanno (centre) spends the nights outside AIIMS to queue up early for appointments.
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement

New Delhi:

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi met the families of patients camped outside All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Thursday night, lamenting the Centre and Delhi government’s insensitivity as they stayed on roads, footpaths and subways amid biting cold.

“Burden of disease, biting cold, and government insensitivity – today I met patients and their families outside AIIMS who have come from far and wide in search of treatment. On their path to get treatment, they are forced to sleep on roads, footpaths and subways – just keeping a flame of hope burning amidst the cold ground, hunger, and inconveniences,” Gandhi said in a post on social media.

He said the Centre and Delhi governments have failed in fulfilling their responsibility towards the public.

Pawan Kumar, whose 13-year-old daughter is a blood cancer patient at AIIMS, told ANI that they arrived there on December 3 and still haven’t received proper treatment. “He (Rahul Gandhi) asked me for my phone number, and said that his team will contact me and help me as much as possible,” he said. The girl’s mother said the Congress MP promised cash support for her daughter’s treatment.

The Congress also said in a post on X said that people from far-off places are forced to live in such adversity, which lays bare the “inconvenience and insensitivity of the government”.

New Delhi:

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, 92, suffered sudden loss of consciousness at his home and was taken to the emergency department of All India Institute of Medical Sciences at 8.06 pm on Thursday, the hospital said in a statement. He was being treated for age-related treatments and was declared dead at 9.51 pm, it said. 

“With profound grief, we inform the demise of Former Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, aged 92. He was being treated for age-related medical conditions and had sudden loss of consciousness at home on 26th December 2024. Resuscitative measures were started immediately at home. He was brought to the Medical Emergency at AIIMS, New Delhi at 8:06 PM. Despite all efforts, he could not be revived and was declared dead at 9:51 PM,” the statement said.

Manmohan Singh’s family reached the hospital and so did Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi are flying back to Delhi from Belagavi in Karnataka where they were attending a party event earlier in the day.

Tributes poured in for the two-time former Prime Minister and architect of India’s economic reforms. Terming Manmohan Singh one of India’s most distinguished leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the late Congress leader made extensive efforts to improve people’s lives.

“India mourns the loss of one of its most distinguished leaders, Dr. Manmohan Singh Ji. Rising from humble origins, he rose to become a respected economist. He served in various government positions as well, including as Finance Minister, leaving a strong imprint on our economic policy over the years. His interventions in Parliament were also insightful. As our Prime Minister, he made extensive efforts to improve people’s lives,” PM Modi posted on X.

Rahul Gandhi said he has lost a “friend and mentor” and that the former Prime Minister would be remembered with the utmost pride. 

“Manmohan Singh Ji led India with immense wisdom and integrity. His humility and deep understanding of economics inspired the nation. My heartfelt condolences to Mrs Kaur and the family. I have lost a mentor and guide. Millions of us who admired him will remember him with the utmost pride,” he wrote on X.

Pointing out that few in politics inspire the kind of respect that Manmohan Singh did, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the former Prime Minister was wise, strongwilled and courageous until the end and would always be an inspiration for her and those who “truly love this country”.

‘Never Met Someone More Humble’

Congress Leader P Chidambaram, who held the Home and Finance portfolios at the Centre under Manmohan Singh, said he had never met someone who was as humble and self-effacing. 

“It is a very deeply emotional moment for me. I know he was ill and I know that he was
not active, but I thought that he would live for a few more years. As I recall the life and work of Dr Manmohan Singh… the period from 1991 (when then finance minister Manmohan Singh brought in the Budget ushering in liberalisation) to 2014 will be a golden chapter in the history of India,” he told NDTV.

“I have not met a person more humble and self-effacing than Dr Singh. He wore his scholarship lightly and never claimed credit for any of his historic achievements,” he added.

New Delhi:

 Veteran BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani was admitted to the AIIMS here late on Wednesday night, sources said.

“He is stable and under observation,” a source said.

The 96-year-old former deputy prime minister has been admitted in the old private ward of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and is learnt to being treated by doctors from the Department of Urology.

However, there was no immediate clarity on his ailment.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The high-level committee announced by Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday to look into ways to improve the functioning of the National Testing Agency has now been constituted, and consists of some well-known academicians and technocrats.

The agency and the government have been under fire over the alleged irregularities in the NEET exam and the cancellation of the UGC-NET test. Over 30 lakh students appeared for the two important exams. 

Dr K Radhakrishnan, a former ISRO chief and the current chairperson of the board of governors of IIT Kanpur will head the seven-member committee. Some of the others on the panel are Dr Randeep Guleria, the former director of AIIMS in Delhi, BJ Rao, the vice-chancellor of the Central University of Hyderabad, Aditya Mittal, the dean of student affairs at IIT Delhi and Ramamurthy K, a former professor in the civil engineering department of IIT Madras.

Govind Jaiswal, joint secretary of the Ministry of Education, and Pankaj Bansal, co-founder of People Strong and board member of Karmayogi Bharat, make up the remaining two members, the Union government said on Saturday. 

On Thursday, Mr Pradhan had said, “The government is also setting up a high-level committee. It will give recommendations on improving NTA’s structure, its functioning, examination process, transparency and data, and security protocol. We are committed to zero-error exams.” 

When he was asked about the composition of the panel, he had said it would have technocrats, scientists, education administrators and academicians.

The Exam Mess

Nearly 24 lakh students had appeared for the NEET-UG 2024 for undergraduate medical courses, which is conducted by the National Testing Agency, on May 5. The results were announced on June 4, 10 days before schedule, but allegations of question paper leaks and grace marks to over 1,500 students triggered protests. Cases were also filed in courts, including the Supreme Court, which has rapped the NTA. 

On Wednesday, the Education Ministry had cancelled the UGC-NET exam, also conducted by the NTA, just a day after it was held. Over 9 lakh candidates had appeared for the exam, which is held for Assistant Professor posts in universities and colleges and to determine eligibility for junior research fellowships. Mr Pradhan had said the UGC chairman had received information from the cyber crime team in the Home Ministry about questions being on the darknet.

The opposition, strengthened after its much-improved showing in the Lok Sabha polls, has attacked the government. The Congress has held nationwide protests and the INDIA alliance is likely to look to corner the government on the issue when the Parliament session begins on Monday. 

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here to constitute a medical board to ascertain the physical condition of a woman and her 25-week foetus she wants aborted citing financial constraints.

A vacation bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma ordered the medical board to furnish its report by May 27.

The bench passed the order on a plea of the woman, who claimed that she came to know about her pregnancy on May 17.

“She has come all the way from Dubai and is currently staying in a hotel here. She is not that financially strong,” the counsel said and urged the bench to allow her to terminate her pregnancy.

The bench said it will list the matter for next Monday.

Under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, aborting a foetus that is more than 24 weeks old can be allowed only in cases of substantial foetal abnormality as diagnosed by a medical board or if an opinion is formed in good faith for the purpose of saving the life of the pregnant woman.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bhubaneswar:

A team of doctors of AIIMS Bhubaneswar successfully conducted a rare scalp tumour operation on a 51-year-old man from neighbouring West Bengal, officials said on Tuesday.

The executive director of AIIMS Bhubaneswar, Ashutosh Biswas, said the patient had gone to several medical colleges and hospitals for treatment before finally reaching the Department of Plastic Surgery at the institute.

@AIIMSBhubaneswr achieved a remarkable feat by successfully conducting a rare scalp #tumor operation, only the second of its kind in India. The surgery, performed on a 51-year-old man from West Bengal, involved the removal of a massive 7kg #SynovialSarcoma tumor.@MoHFW_INDIApic.twitter.com/GLDIT71k4v

— AIIMS Bhubaneswar (@AIIMSBhubaneswr) May 7, 2024

A multidisciplinary team from the AIIMS, comprising experts in interventional radiology, surgical oncology, neurosurgery, plastic surgery, anesthesiology, and pathology, meticulously crafted a treatment strategy under the guidance of Sanjay Kumar Giri, head of the department of burns and plastic surgery, Mr Biswas said.

The surgery is the second of its kind in India, he claimed.

The patient, Rabindra Bishui, underwent the complex procedure to address a longstanding scalp swelling that had plagued him for over two decades, the AIIMS official said.

The growth, later diagnosed as a 7 kg synovial sarcoma tumour, posed a formidable challenge to conventional treatment methods.

The doctors took around 7 hours to conduct the surgery.

The procedure was intricate, necessitating the ligation of the left external carotid artery and posterolateral neck dissection, culminating in the successful removal of the tumour.

After the successful surgery, the patient received intensive care for 24 hours before being transitioned to the ward for further observation and recovery, the official said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)