AIIMS seeks explanation from RDA president on ‘political’ tweet

‘He later deleted post from the official site, apologised’

February 24, 2020 01:38 am | Updated 01:38 am IST - NEW DELHI

The Central government-run All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has issued a memorandum to the president of Resident Doctors’ Association, asking him to “explain his tweet” posted on February 12 which the institute said “was political in nature”.

In its letter addressed to the president of RDA, AIIMS read: “The content of this tweet was political in nature on the Delhi State Assembly Elections. It has also been brought to notice that this tweet was posted by the RDA president. An explanation should be given.” The tweet was posted on the RDA’s handle.

AIIMS RDA president Adarsh Pratap Singh, who is alleged to have written the posts, did not respond to The Hindu on Sunday.

However, his colleagues noted that the quote — “congratulated the people of Delhi for showing the whole country how democratic power can prevail over fascist forces & how people of a nation can decide on the kind of leadership they deserve! Congrats to @arvindkejriwal & @AamAadmiParty for such a great victory ! #DelhiElections [SIC]”— is “under review”.

The letter also statedthat the tweet has been viewed seriously by the Competent Authority. “RDA presidentis required to give his explanation regarding the above tweet within 48 hours from the date of issue of this memorandum.”

The letter has been marked to the Director and the Dean of AIIMS, Delhi. Sources at the hospital said the tweet was taken down after objection was raised by doctors at AIIMS and other institutes.

“Dr. Singh also sent a message on WhatsApp group after deletion of the tweet, which reads ‘Dear Residents, The tweet regarding winning of AAP yesterday was my personal opinion. I apologise for posting it on the official RDA Twitter handle since it represents the entire AIIMS Residents community and it caused inconvenience to the ones who do not think alike [SIC]’,” the source added. A senior AIIMS official said hospital/institute platforms should not be used to propagate personal political views.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.