AIIMS-Patna has finally relieved Dr Vijay Sheel Gautam, head, trauma and emergency department of the hospital.

Dr Gautam had already put in his resignation paper in November last year. However, the institution was taking time to accept his resignation. Sources said the Centre had especially hired Gautam for establishing the trauma and emergency department at AIIMS-Patna. Sources said the premier health hub relieved Gautam on Monday.

Before joining AIIMS- Patna, the internationally acclaimed trauma expert was working at St Peter's Hospital, London. The doctor has years of experience of working in the field in the United Kingdom.

According to sources, Gautam, like many other AIIMS doctors, was not happy with the slow pace of construction work of the hospital. Several other medicos moved to other hospitals. Before Gautam, Gaurav Sharma, assistant professor, medicine, Supriya Sharma, associate professor, surgery, R. Das, professor, anatomy, and A.K. Pandey, medical superintendent of the hospital, moved to other hospitals.

When contacted, Dr Gautam denied that the pace of the hospital construction work had forced him to resign. He, however, did not specify any reason for taking the decision. "I had come to AIIMS-Patna with an ambition to serve my own people. I would continue to provide my services to the people of the state," said Dr Gautam.

AIIMS director Dr G.K. Singh repeated what he said earlier when Dr Gautam had put in his papers. "AIIMS-Patna does not depend on any one doctor. Doctors of different super-specialities are working over here. So even if anybody moves to any other hospital, we have other medicos who can take care of the patients very well," said Singh.

Doctors of AIIMS-Patna, however, were divided on whether the hospital would be at loss owing to Dr Gautam's departure. "Gautam's departure is a big loss for the hospital. He is very experienced in trauma care. The hospital would have been benefited from him," said a medico.

Another doctor said: "The trauma and emergency department has not been started yet and Dr Gautam had not done anything very important during his tenure. So his departure is not going to affect the hospital in any way. Had the department been running, Gautam's departure would have created difficulty for the hospital."