A search-cum-selection panel headed by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has shortlisted three names for the post of AIIMS director which will be placed before the Institute Body, the top decision-making body of the institute, on March 29. Once approved by the Institute Body, the names will be sent to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by the prime minister, for final assent.

The three names shortlisted are Dr Nikhil Tandon, head of the department of endocrinology at AIIMS, Dr Rajesh Malhotra, chief of AIIMS Trauma Centre and the head of the department of orthopaedics and Dr Pramod Garg, a professor in the gastroenterology department at the institute. Apart from Rajesh Bhushan, the four-member search-cum-selection committee tasked with shortlisting names for the AIIMS director’s post include Secretary of Department of Biotechnology Rajesh S Gokhale, Principal Scientific Advisor to the government K Vijay Raghavan, and Delhi University vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh.