Ranchi, March 15: Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) will soon stop functioning under the government’s service rules as a nine-member committee has been formed to frame by-laws for the hospital.

RIMS director Tulsi Mahto said the decision was taken today at the 26th governing body meeting, which was presided over by health minister Hemlal Murmu. Director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences Ramesh Chandra Deka and noted cardiologist Jagdish were also present.

The committee comprises RIMS dean S.N. Choudhary, preventive medicine department professor Vivek Kashyap, associate professor of medicine Umesh Prasad, former president of Indian Association of Surgeons R.K. Srivastava, doctors of forensic medicine Vinay Kumar and Aman Kumar, special secretary of health department P.C. Mishra and a representative of the finance department and former advocate-general Sohail Anwar.

The institute, which was established in 1960, was originally called Rajendra Medical College Hospital after Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India. It was converted to RIMS in 2002 with an aim to provide special medical facilities. Hitherto, the hospital had been running as per the RIMS governing body and government service rules.

A draft of the by-laws was prepared in 2002 but no serious effort was taken to implement them. “The nine-member committee will study the draft and pass it. The governing body of the hospital has to approve the final draft,” Mahto said. The laws will come into effect in three weeks.

However, according to sources, the recent development has not gone down well with RIMS staff, as under the current rules, they are government employees. An employee said once the institute starts functioning as per its own laws, they will lose out on benefits like pension, which is applicable to all government officials after retirement.