New Delhi: The CIC has directed AIIMS to give reasons for inviting a private doctor to conduct bypass surgery on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when it had the expertise to do the heart operation.
"...how the decision to invite Dr Panda to conduct surgery was arrived at and for what reasons and also (the appellant should) be provided with minutes of any meeting in this connection, available with AIIMS by June 20," Information Commissioner Annapurna Dixit said in her order.
Jagdish Chander Jetli, an RTI applicant, had sought details about the rules of AIIMS under which a private doctor was allowed to conduct the surgery in the Institute, the official who took the decision, expertise of Dr Panda and other such questions in this regard.
Singh, 76, underwent a re-do coronary artery bypass surgery at the AIIMS on January 24 this year by a team of doctors led by Dr. Panda of the Mumbai-based Asian Heart Institute.
Jetli claimed that the AIIMS response to him was "vague and evasive" prompting him to move to Central Information Commission.
During the arguments before the CIC, Jetli said AIIMS had acknowledged having expertise in the surgery that was conducted on the PM with the success rate at par with International standards.
He said the Institute did not give any reply about the official who took the decision to call doctors from AHI to conduct surgery and the reasons of this decision.