More AIIMS-like hospitals to be set up

Centre’s ambitious project to set up a chain of 13 AIIMS like super specialty hospitals in the country finally takes off, reports Anil Anand.

Centre’s ambitious project to set up a chain of 13 AIIMS-like super specialty hospitals in the country finally took off on Monday with the Health Ministry clearing three such projects for Kolkata, Jammu and Lucknow.

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A high power Project Management Committee (PMC) of the Ministry, headed by secretary health, Naresh Goel, gave a go-ahead for upgradation of medical colleges at these places to super-speciality hospitals. The projects will be completed in a time bound manner, within 18 months, at a cost of Rs 120 crore each with December 2008 as the deadline.

The Health Ministry sources said the Centre will contribute Rs 100 crore in each of the projects. Rest will be the state governments’ share. On its part, the Centre has appointed Hospital Supplies and Construction Corporation, a public sector undertaking, as the nodal agency to oversee the projects.

Earlier, a technical committee consisting of the head of the hospital administration department of AIIMS, Dr Shakti Gupta, DDG (works), CPWD, AK Jain, chief architect, DGHS, S Majumdar and senior architect DGHS, Dr R Chandrasekhar, had put its seal on the projects.

Significantly, Jammu and Kashmir will have two such hospitals. The proposal for the upgradation of the Srinagar medical college is likely to be considered in the PMC’s next meeting.

The Jammu medical college project involves setting up of six new super-specialty departments of cardiology, cardiothorasic surgery, nephrology, nephrology surgery, neurology and neurology surgery. Super-specialty facilities will also be created in the existing nine departments. In addition, an ultra-modern 30-bed pediatrics ward is also proposed to be set, state health secretary K B Jandial said.

The state government has already spend Rs 22.50 crore to acquire 45 kanals of prime land in Jammu city for the project. Given the special focus of the government to create health care facilities in the terrorism- hit state, chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad cleared the land acquisition project on priority. The land cost, borne by the state, is over and above the Rs 120 crore project expenditure, Jandial said.

Apart from the creation of new OPDs, the Lucknow medical college project will have half-a-dozen new super-specialties. These include pulmonary surgery, plastic surgery and burns unit, pulmonary medicine and maternal and reproductive healthcare set up.