Patients should come to AIIMS only for complex diseases

Dr M. Srinivas, who joined AIIMS New Delhi in 1994, took over as the director of the institute in September 2022. He has more than three decades of experience in academics, administration and research.

- PUJA AWASTHI

Srinivas, who hails from Karnataka’s Yadgir district, was serving on deputation as dean at the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation Medical College in Hyderabad when he took up the director’s post at AIIMS. In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK, Srinivas spoke about opportunities before the new AIIMS hospitals, the role of AI in patient care and the importance of making health care equitable. Edited excerpts:

Q New AIIMS are coming up across the country. What should their priorities be in their journey to become like AIIMS New Delhi?

A Each and every AIIMS operational today is doing a great service to the nation. Many of them have made advanced health care accessible to the masses like never before. Great institutes like AIIMS are destined to be leaders and are the perfect breeding grounds for pathbreaking innovations. New AIIMS shall have their own growth pangs and challenges. These shall evolve with the changing times, and it will be very important for them to embrace change without the burden of the past limiting their growth.

While the new ones can learn a lot from the journey of AIIMS New Delhi, it is not necessary that they become an exact replica. All of them need to focus on becoming AIIMS+ to establish new global paradigms and to establish Bharat as a Vishwaguru in health care. They should develop their services in a manner wherein accountability and transparency are at the heart of their growth journey. Adopting good governance practices from day one is important to imbibe these values in the institutional DNA. Further, the focus on Atmanirbharta—patientcentric care, applied academics, digital health, innovation and entrepreneurship—must be evident in letter and spirit.