AIIMS administration issues show-cause notice to senior doctor

New Delhi, June 2 () The AIIMS administration has issued a show-cause notice to a senior resident doctor, who took to Twitter to claim that statistics provided by the Union Health Ministry and the ICMR about N95 masks were a "lie".

"The N-95 stats claimed by MoHFW_INDIA and ICMRDELHI is a lie. There are major quality and standardisation issue with India made N95?. If you are a journo looking for leads or know one DM me or RT this," read a tweet posted by senior resident doctor Dr Srinivas Rajkumar T on May 25.

In the show-cause notice, the AIIMS administration said, "Dr Srinivas has provided no details to support his claim. Apart from being a senior resident at AIIMS, he is also the Secretary of the RDA, AIIMS, New Delhi. By virtue of holding these important positions, his words have the ability to influence the public and healthcare workers around the country"

"At a time when the nation is fighting against a pandemic, unsubstantiated statements such as these can damage the morale of the frontline healthcare workers, leading them to doubt the protection available to them," the notice stated.

"Dr Srinivas has provided no evidence to support his claims, and despite access to institutional mechanisms for grievance redressal, has chosen to voice his claim on a public platform and sought media visibility to malign institutions," the show cause notice read.

He has been asked why action should not be taken against him for breach of Central Civil Services (Classification, Control & Appeal) Rules by 5 pm, June 3.

Dr Srinivas was expelled last week from the post of general secretary of the institute's RDA after he issued a statement in the media, which the doctor's body said was "false".

The show-cause notice was issued in connection with the tweet posted by Dr Srinivas on May 25 and has no connection with his expulsion from the AIIMS RDA, official sources said. PLB DV DV