The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here will remain open on Monday, reversing its earlier decision to shut OPD services till 2:30 pm on the occasion of the consecration ceremony at the Ayodhya Ram temple.
"In continuation of the Office Memorandum dated January 20, all clinical services including the Outpatient Services (OPD) shall remain open to prevent any inconvenience to patients and to facilitate patient care services," a fresh office memorandum issued by AIIMS said on Sunday.
Later in the day, the Lady Hardinge Medical College too announced that all services, including OPD and emergency, will be functional throughout Monday.
On Saturday, an official memorandum by AIIMS, Delhi, had noted that the government has declared a half-day holiday on January 22 because of the Ram temple consecration ceremony.
"It is notified for information of all the employees that the Institute will remain half day closed till 14.30 pm on January 22. All Chiefs of Centres, Heads of the Departments, Units and Branch Officers are requested to bring this to the notice of all staff working under them," it had stated.
The memorandum had also said that critical and emergency services would be functional.
The consecration ceremony at the Ayodhya Ram temple will take place on Monday.
The AIIMS half-day shutdown notification sparked a huge outcry, with many pointing out that patients wait for weeks and sometimes months to get an appointment at the premier healthcare facility. To shut OPD services suddenly would severely inconvenience them, especially those who had travelled from outside Delhi in the hope of good, affordable healthcare at the state-run facility.
On Sunday morning, AIIMS-Delhi issued a fresh notification stating that the OPD "shall remain open to attend to patients with appointments in order to prevent any inconvenience to them..."
Safdarjung Hospital, another key healthcare facility in the national capital, has said OPD registration will take place between 8 am and 10 am and all registered patients will be attended to. The hospital will run pharmacy services till noon but elective surgeries won't take place, reports ndtv.com.
Earlier, Opposition leaders had strongly slammed the AIIMS announcement of a half-day break for the Ayodhya event. Rajya Sabha MP and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi had hit out at the move with a sarcastic post on X. "Hello humans, Please don't go into a medical emergency on 22nd, and if you do schedule it for post 2pm since AIIMS Delhi is taking time off to welcome Maryada Purushottam Ram," she had posted.
Trinamul Congress MP Saket Gokhale, too, criticised the move yesterday. "India's largest Government Hospital AIIMS Delhi will remain closed till 2:30 pm on Monday. There are literally people sleeping outside in the cold at AIIMS gates waiting for an appointment. The poor and dying can wait because priority is given to Modi's desperation for cameras and PR," Mr Gokhale posted on X.
