1 Apr :The PGI director, Dr K.K. Talwar, has once again been given an extension for two years by the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry. As per the orders issued today, Dr Talwar will continue as director as well as head of the cardiology department until 2011.
Dr Talwar (63), has earlier worked for 11 years in the PGI – from January 1970 to October 1980 – during which he did his DM in cardiology. Later, he joined AIIMS as assistant professor in 1980. He became professor in 1992 and also received the BC Roy Award in 2000 in the category of eminent medical teacher.
He became head of the department of cardiology at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, in 2002. He took over as director PGI in April 2004 for a four-year term and was given a year’s extension in April 2008.
During his stint at the PGI, Dr Talwar has been credited with vastly improving the functioning of the institute. However, he has had a tough time with the hospital’s employees unions, which have tried to scuttle his extensions by launching vilification campaigns against him more than once. Incidentally, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had taken a serious note of the union activities and noted that “politics of class III and IV employees had ruined the institution”.
The news of Dr Talwar’s extension would also not to the liking of his detractors within his fraternity. However, they could now raise noises on the issues of his getting the dual charge of director and the head of the cardiology department, a post that he had himself left after a similar controversy had erupted at the AIIMS, New Delhi.