Thaindian News

New Delhi, Feb 5 (IANS) Aiming to ramp up the country’s healthcare facilities, the Indian government Thursday sanctioned Rs.16.46 billion ($340 million) for setting up two more premier referral institutes on the lines of the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here.This apart, the cabinet, at its meeting here Thursday, also sanctioned Rs.7.50 billion for upgrading five existing government medical colleges, Home Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee presided over the cabinet meeting in the absence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is recovering from coronary bypass surgery.

The new referral institutes, to be established at a cost of Rs.8.23 billion each, will be located at Raiganj in West Bengal’s North Dinajpur district and at a site to be chosen by the Uttar Pradesh government, Chidambaram said.

Each institution will have a 960-bedded hospital, with 500 beds for the medial college hospital and 300 beds for its speciality and super speciality departments.

This apart, 100 beds will be set aside for the ICU and accident trauma department, 30 beds for physical medicine & rehabilitation departments and 30 beds for the Ayush (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) departments.

“The medical college will annually take in 100 undergraduate students, besides running postgraduate and doctoral courses in various disciplines, largely based on Medical Council of India (MCI) norms,” Chidambaram said.

“It will also have a nursing college conforming to Nursing Council norms,” he added.

AIIMS became functional in 1956 as an autonomous institution through an act of Parliament, to serve as a nucleus for nurturing excellence in all aspect of health care.

In 2005, the government has five similar institutes at Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Bhubaneswar (Orissa), Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Patna (Bihar), Raipur (Chhattisgarh) and Rishikesh (Uttarakhand).

The five government medical colleges being upgraded are located at Aligarh (Uttar Pradesh), Amritsar (Punjab), Madurai (Tamil Nadu), Nagpur (Maharashtra) and Tanda (Himachal Pradesh).

Each college will be upgraded at a cost of Rs.1.50 billion, with the central government providing Rs.1.25 billion and the state government providing the balance Rs.250 million.

In the case of the Aligarh college, which is part of the Aligarh Muslim University, the human resource development ministry will provide the Rs.250 million.

“A proposal for upgrading a medical college in Haryana has also been approved in principle subject to the state government agreeing to carry out its obligations,” an official statement said.