Union cabinet approves new All India Institute of Medical Sciences for Assam

After the Union cabinet approves of a new AIIMS in Assam, the country has a total of 12 AIIMS.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved setting up of a new All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Kamrup district of Assam at a cost of Rs 1,123 crore.

North eastern state of Assam to get a new AIIMS. (HT File)

North East region is one of the neglected areas in the country in terms of quality and access to healthcare, and this 750 bedded new AIIMS is expected to fill the gap.

“The new hospital will be built at a cost of Rs 1,123 crore and it will be set up under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY),” said Arun Jaitley, finance minister, after the Cabinet meeting that was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The hospital will be completed in 48 months from the date of the approval of Central government, broadly comprising a pre-construction phase of 15 months, a construction phase of 30 months and commissioning phase of three months.

It will also have 22 speciality departments, including 16 operation theatres.

The hospital will have trauma centre facilities, medical college with an intake of 100 MBBS students per year, nursing college with an intake of 60 B.Sc. (Nursing) students per year, residential complexes and allied facilities or services, broadly on the pattern of AIIMS in New Delhi.

It will also have an AYUSH department with 30 beds for providing treatment facilities in traditional system of medicine.

The government hopes that the establishment of new AIIMS will serve the dual purpose of providing super speciality health care to the population, while also help create a large pool of doctors and other health workers in this region that can be available for primary and secondary level institutions being created under National Health Mission.

The new AIIMS will be 12th in the list that was announced under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana.

AIIMS have been established in Bhubaneshwar, Bhopal, Raipur, Jodhpur, Rishikesh and Patna while work of AIIMS Rae Bareli is in progress.

Also, three AIIMS in Nagpur (Maharashtra), Kalyani (West Bengal) and Mangalagiri in Guntur (Andhra Pradesh) were sanctioned in 2015 and two more AIIMS were also sanctioned at Bathinda and Gorakhpur in 2016.