Non-availability of required instruments and a dedicated laboratory at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has been creating hurdles for PhD students. In the absence of the facilities, they are not able to work properly for their research as they cannot access the instruments at other department labs.
At present, each department has an individual laboratory of its own and an individual faculty head is incharge of it. Students complained that mostly the laboratories remain locked as the faculty heads remain busy; hence, they are unable to access the facilities. For the past 15 years, they have been demanding this facility, but all their effort went in vain. Recently, PhD scholars under the banner of ‘Society of Young Scientist’ shot a letter to Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, asking him to intervene in the matter.
In the absence of a centralised laboratory, it became very difficult for them to continue with any research project. While narrating the ordeal, Vinay Sharma, a PhD student said, “We have to stop many important research papers mid-way due to lack of centralised laboratory facility; as a result, our research work is being delayed.”
He added that the hospital administration spent `400-`500 crore per year for procurement of instruments, but till now they have failed to set up a single centralised laboratory in the entire hospital.
Research scholars need access to various sophisticated high-end instruments like Mass Spectrometry, DNA sequencer, X Ray Crystallography, Parfocal microscope. Requesting the Union Minister to take up the issues of the researchers as high priority, the Society members stated that if this persists for long they will go on an indefinite strike.