First time: Women docs to head city’s 3 biggest central govt hospitals

New Delhi: In a first for Delhi’s public healthcare system, three of its biggest central govt hospitals will now be headed by women doctors, marking a major leadership shift at some of the country’s most influential medical institutions.

The Union health ministry on Friday issued appointment orders for Dr Akhilandeshwari Prasad as director of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences and Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Dr Himani Ahluwalia as director of Lady Hardinge Medical College and Dr Kavita Rani Sharma as director of Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital.

The appointments place women at the helm of three of Delhi’s largest and busiest govt-run tertiary care institutions simultaneously for the first time, officials said.

Dr Prasad, a senior consultant in radio diagnosis, has been appointed director of ABVIMS and Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital with immediate effect, while Dr Ahluwalia, a director professor of physiology, will take charge of Lady Hardinge Medical College from July 9.

Dr Sharma, director professor of anaesthesia, has been appointed director of VMMC and Safdarjung Hospital with immediate effect. She had earlier been given additional charge as its director this March.

Talking to TOI, Dr Prasad, an MBBS gold medallist from Lady Hardinge Medical College and MD in radiodiagnosis from RML Hospital, said she has been associated with RML Hospital and ABVIMS for nearly three decades in academic and administrative roles, including as head of radiodiagnosis.

She said her priorities would include strengthening patient-focused care, ensuring uninterrupted essential services, operationalising the super-specialty block, modernising infrastructure and accelerating integrated paperless healthcare systems.

Dr Prasad also aims at strengthening teaching, research and clinical training while expanding the institution’s healthcare and academic capacities.

Dr Sharma told TOI that Safdarjung Hospital is among the country’s largest tertiary care institutions with around 13,000 OPD patients each day and several super-speciality departments. She said her focus would be on strengthening patient care, medical education and research.

Together, the three institutions cater to lakhs of patients annually and play a key role in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education, tertiary healthcare and national public health programmes.

Officials said the appointments reflect the growing presence of women in leadership positions within India’s public healthcare and medical education system, traditionally dominated by male administrators and senior clinicians.