AIIMS-like institutes in UP, Bengal get Cabinet nod

In a move that will increase the number of AIIMS-like hospitals, the Cabinet on Wednesday approved two more facilities to be set up in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal at an estimated cost of Rs 823 crore each in the second phase of Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY).

Earlier in the month, commenting on the status of other six AIIMS-like facilities conceived during the NDA reign in the first phase of PMSSY, health minister Ambumani Ramadoss said all six facilities would become fully functional in six to eight months. The six medical institutes are proposed to come up in Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) Bhubaneswar (Orissa), Rishikesh (Uttaranchal), Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Patna (Bihar) and Raipur (Chhattisgarh).

Each institution planned in UP and West Bengal would have a hospital with the capacity of 960 beds. This includes 500 beds for medical college hospital, 300 beds for specialty or super-specialty, 100 beds for ICU and accident trauma, 30 beds for physical medicine and rehabilitation and 30 beds for Ayush (department of ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha and homoeopathy).

The institutes would provide healthcare facilities in 39 specialty and super-specialty disciplines. Medical college would have 100 undergraduates. Besides facilities for imparting post graduate doctoral courses in various disciplines, largely based on Medical Council of India (MCI) norms, the institutes would have a nursing college each conforming to nursing council norms.

The Cabinet has also approved to upgrade five existing government medical colleges in the second phase of PMSSY at an estimated cost of Rs 150 crore each. Of the sum, the Centre would contribute Rs 125 crore. Also, respective state governments would have to invest a minimum sum of Rs 25 crore.

The colleges to be upgraded include government medical college Amritsar (Punjab), Government Medical College Tanda (Himachal Pradesh), Government Medical College Madurai (Tamil Nadu), Government Medical College Nagpur (Maharashtra) and Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College of Aligarh Muslim University (Aligarh).

The government also approved signing a pact with Sweden for bilateral cooperation in the field of healthcare and public health on Wednesday.