AIIMS bill moved in RS amid uproar

A bill to help the Centre set up AIIMS-like premier medical institutes across the country by a notification was moved in Rajya Sabha today.

A bill to help the Centre set up AIIMS-like premier medical institutes across the country by a notification was moved in Rajya Sabha on Monday.

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The bill, already passed by Lok Sabha on August 30, was moved for consideration and passage by minister of state for health and family welfare S Gandhiselvan.

The All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2012, could not be taken up as deputy chairman adjourned the House following uproar by BJP over the coal block allocation issue.

The measure will replace an ordinance which allowed the six AIIMS-like institutes to get operational from September.

The bill will confer powers upon the Centre to establish AIIMS-like institutions by notification in the official gazette.

Government aims to set up six AIIMS-like medical institutes in Patna, Bhopal, Raipur, Bhubaneshwar, Jodhpur and Rishikesh in a bid to correct the imbalance in availability of affordable healthcare in various parts of the country.

The institutes are to be made operational by September 15, the government has already announced.

"The six states in which the institutes were established had requested the central government to make them operational urgently and to commence the academic session in September, 2012," the bill's Statement of Objects and Reasons stated.