The new Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad will review all the major decisions taken by his predecessor Dr Anbumani Ramadoss during the last five years, according to reliable sources.
Prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh was upset with several controversial decisions taken by Dr Ramadoss during the last five years as health minister. So, the prime minister has brought a senior Congress leader like Azad to undo the mistakes done by his predecessor and to put the ministry back on tracks. Azad has been given a clear mandate to regain the confidence of the public on an important issue like public health in the country, sources said.
Sources added that the prime minister was especially upset with Dr Ramadoss' tiff with an institution of national repute like AIIMS in which the minister wanted to interfere in the autonomy of the institution. In yet another controversial decision, Dr Ramadoss had ordered to close down the three major vaccine units in the country which also invited enormous public criticism. Both the issues, inter alia, put the Congress-led central government in poor light in the eyes of the public.
That the new minister means business and is keen to implement the Prime Minister's agenda in letter and spirit is clear when he removed the ban on smoking on screen immediately after his assumption of power at the Union health ministry. Former health minister Dr Ramadoss had banned smoking in films and TV serials which was stayed by the Delhi high court early this year. "Screen is about entertainment. I don't think it has anything to do with tobacco consumption," Azad said after removing the ban.
Azad has also made clear his views on the infamous AIIMS issue. "Individuals will come and go but the supremacy of autonomous institutions should not be diluted and must be allowed to function in its own area of expertise," he said. "I am interested in strengthening institutions. We should not allow anybody to dilute the supremacy of institutions, whether it is AIIMS or the health ministry. AIIMS is a premium institute and we should not lower its image," Azad added without naming his predecessor.
AIIMS had witnessed a bitter feud between Dr Ramadoss and former director of the institute Dr P Venugopal after Dr Venugopal complained of interference in the functioning of the institute by the minister.
This is just a beginning and all the major decisions taken by Dr Ramadoss including the formation of Central Drug Authority (CDA), closing of three major vaccine units, implementation of Schedule M, etc will come under the radar of the new minister sooner than later, sources said.