Authors’ reply

Dr Vishal Sharma has raised a single objection to our editorial, that the statement: “Dr Venugopal had incurred the displeasure of Dr Ramadoss because he had supported students who agitated against the reservation of seats for Other Backward Classes in AIIMS” is unsubstantiated. Dr Venugopal’s support of the agitation was a finding of the Thorat Committee Report as reported widely in the press. We provided a reference to one such press report (1).

However, this is not the main point of the editorial with regard to Dr Venugopal. The main point is that as Director of AIIMS, he did little to fulfil the aims of this special institute which is funded entirely by tax-payers’ money.