First woman director of AIIMS is prepared to talk of Indira Gandhi, VIP culture and anti-Sikh riots

It was the first day she had taken charge as the director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi. Dr Sneh Bhargava's appointment letter to become the first lady director of the world-renowned hospital and medical college was being signed. She was on the cusp of making history. She was in her radiology department, going over a new case with her colleagues.

Just then, a radiographer burst in.

"The prime minister has arrived," she declared.

Bhargava was surprised. “How can the prime minister come unannounced? It cannot be, there is something amiss.”

She was correct. Bhargava assumed AIIMS on 31 October 1984, the day when Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her bodyguards. Becoming woman chief of AIIMS was historic, but memories of the first day are a part of the national tragedy as well. Today, this flashbulb memory is also imprinted in her brand-new autobiography, The Woman Who Ran AIIMS—a tour de force of her life, the times, the trials and the triumphs.

Sneh Bhargava, today 95, was the first and, and indeed, the last woman director at AIIMS, leading it for six years, between 1984 and 1990. It had been established through the AIIMS Act, 1956 by then health minister Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, who had fantasized about an institute which would give excellent medical training so "our young men and women could have their postgraduate education in their own country." Six years down the line, after its establishment, Bhargava joined AIIMS as a radiographer and made it her life's work to fulfill that dream.

A photograph from Sneh Bhargava's autobiography 'The Woman Who Ran AIIMS', a 1952 students' union photo with Rajkumari Amrit Kaur and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

The years have not dimmed her recollections.

"When I inquired about Mrs Gandhi, the staff indicated a trolley. I discovered her covered in a blood-stained saffron sari," she recounted, with a shiver in her otherwise firm voice. The first thing that came to my mind after seeing Mrs Gandhi was to keep her in a safe location. I called up the director who was signing my appointment letter, and requested the medical superintendent to move Mrs Gandhi to the operation theatre." Bhargava was among the doctors who wheeled the prime minister to the operation theatre.

A few days later, rumours swirled again in AIIMS and government corridors. Could a woman run AIIMS? Would she still be director after Indira Gandhi’s assassination?

"My colleagues and friends requested me to address Rajiv Gandhi. But I opposed it. Why should I go? Everyone said, 'How can a woman administer AIIMS?' If Mrs Gandhi can administer the country as a woman, I can administer AIIMS as a woman," Bhargava said.

An eye on the future

Her four feet 11 inches of height hides her assertive demeanor. She moves quickly to the inner patio of her large two-storey house in New Friends Colony. Yoga, she explains. Sitting on the shelf is a framed picture of her in vrikshasana, or tree pose. "I like this photo," she smiles. 

Bhargava, whose husband passed away at 77, lives alone on the ground floor. Her daughter and son-in-law live upstairs.

She began her professional life at AIIMS in 1961, and rose to be the head of radiology department. Following her MBBS from Lady Hardinge Medical College, it was a specialisation that selected her in a manner when she proceeded to postgraduate training at Westminster Medical School in London, which is now part of Imperial College.

"After MBBS, I was unsure which department to join. I did self-analysis, visited every department. In the process somehow, I was approached to join radiology, so I joined radiology. When I joined, radiology was a all-girls gang, but as soon as CT scan and other innovations occurred, men began joining the department," she said.

Sneh Bhargava’s home is filled with mementos of a long career, including a framed photo of her receiving the Padma Shri in 1991 | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

Bhargava argues in favor of the power of human instinct and intuition, but is not a traditionalist. She is an eloquent advocate for X-rays as an amazing "second eye" for medical analysis and is open to the application of AI in healthcare.

"I've seen just a bit because AI did not arrive when I was clinically practicing, but I am aware that you will be able to diagnose a bit more than your eyes can," she added. "You may have AI in some cases, but not as an routine."

Interest in the new, the novel, and the now is the foundation of her personality. She asks questions when she spots a selfie stick: "Is this a tripod? What's the difference between a tripod and a selfie stick?"

Students, colleagues and patients paint a picture of Bhargava as a super-skilled doctor. But being a super-doctor and a understanding teacher is not sufficient to run one of India's biggest hospitals. A director has to be as diplomatic as a seasoned diplomat, have the vision of a leader and have the tenacity of an army chief.

Trials by fire

She displayed her mettle by standing firm in the anti-Sikh riots that broke out after Indira Gandhi was assassinated. When Bhargava was director of AIIMS, there was a need to protect her Sikh students and employees, so she asked the inspector general of police to send a contingent on campus to provide protection. She also invited two Sikh professors to stay with her if they were not feeling secure.

As the violence intensified across Delhi, casualties increased, and not everyone could make it to AIIMS or local hospitals.

"I appointed a few clinical heads of department from AIIMS to conduct OPDs in the schools closest to where they lived. In a crowded school that I went to, there was no room. I had to stand on a desk in the center and promise all the victims that we would conduct health OPDs every morning if only they were sheltered in the school," she states in her book.

She writes in it that she had put off writing for years. She never maintained a diary or journal—just a notebook in which she noted errors so they wouldn't be repeated.

Under Dr Bhargava, the AIIMS radiology department changed. Along with other doctors, she convinced the health ministry to approve a new CT scanner. She then lobbied for an ultrasound machine. She even helped set up a blood storage facility and a fertility clinic. Gradually, she strengthened the department and groomed the next generation of physicians.

During her three-decade career, she supervised the establishment of some new departments: neuroradiology, cardiovascular radiology, oncoradiology, paediatric radiology, and interventional radiology. She facilitated the installation of the Medical Education and Technology Center to educate students in teaching and was on the team that established The National Medical Journal of India. In 1991, she was awarded the Padma Shri for her service to medicine.

But pressures also existed. Being a part of India's top medical facility, she witnessed India's notorious VIP culture in full, unapologetic bloom on a daily basis. "More VIPs than outsiders would come in. All 544 Lok Sabha MPs and 245 Upper House members insisted on our services being made available to them at once whenever they required the same. The faculty was forced to cater to them apart from their regular tasks," mentioned Bhargava.

Former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi used to visit regularly. So did Sonia, Rahul, and Priyanka Gandhi. Politicians from the state, usually recommended by Indira Gandhi, would also end up for treatment, as VIP patients from neighbouring states like Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Bhargava remembers one MP who threatened her after she requested security to evict his family from a faculty house where they were squatting without permission.

If you throw out my family members, I will shatter the walls of the hospital," she remembered him stating. Unperturbed, Bhargava remained firm.

"Sir, the walls of the Institute and my shoulders are not so feeble that you can attempt to shake them. You are in the wrong side of the rules, and till I am here sitting, you cannot violate the rules and still escape," she says in her book.