New Delhi, May 6 (IANS) The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Tuesday rubbished a news report which claimed that sweepers were working as paramedics there. But the premier hospital said it would carry out a probe to find out “if there is any truth” to it. “The report is completely baseless and irresponsible. There is no truth in the report,” said M.C. Mishra, chief administrator of the Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre of AIIMS.

The report by a leading Indian newspaper has said that in the trauma centre, sweepers are assisting doctors in stitching the wounds of accident victims, giving injections and doing other paramedical jobs.

Mishra, a senior professor at AIIMS, said they would ask the newspaper to provide evidence to substantiate the report.

“If they have any evidence, they must give us - so that we can investigate the matter. Even without that we are going to look at the matter and give a report to the institute director,” Mishra told IANS.

He clarified that no cleaner or sweeper was doing anything other than his or her routine job of keeping the hospital premises clean.

However, the AIIMS authorities admitted that there was a staff crunch at the trauma centre. Of the sanctioned strength of 530, 190 posts are lying vacant.

For the last few months AIIMS has been mired in a number of controversies. Last week, a patient’s family alleged that doctors there wrongly operated upon a woman for breast cancer, but the hospital authorities have denied the charge.