Court summons AIIMS chief over charitable pharmacy

NEW DELHI - The Delhi High Court has summoned the director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to explain why no space has been allotted to a charitable pharmacy that aims to provide cheap medicines to poor patients.

A division bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul asked AIIMS Director R.C. Deka to appear before it Sep 30 and explain the reasons for the delay in alloting space.

Taking a serious view of the issue, the bench asked the central government to find a place within the AIIMS premises for allotment to the Surekha Public Charity Trust.

“We refuse to accept that on a large campus of AIIMS there is no space available for a charitable organization to give subsidized medicines to patients which is a matter of primary concern,” said the court.

“If space can be allotted to existing barber shops, tailor shops and beauty parlours, certainly a space or spaces can be allotted for such charitable purpose,” the court said in an order delivered Friday.

The bench earlier directed the health ministry to frame a policy in consultation with AIIMS for making available a space for such a charitable purpose within three months. However, neither the central government nor the hospital management has done anything so far.

Filing a petition, the charitable trust told the court that no space has been allotted at AIIMS for any charitable institution to open a pharmacy for giving subsidised medicines to poor patients.