The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is likely to have a full-fledged cancer hospital in place within a month from now. The AIIMS will also turn its telemedicine project operational by the same time and initiate work for a dental college within the campus soon. This was among the immediate priorities of the institute that revealed a 25-year vision document on Thursday.

According to Dr P K Dave, director, AIIMS, the entire development plans of the institute, the sanctions of which were withheld due to the absence of a master plan, can be materialized in a phased manner, with the institute receiving all mandatory clearances for the re-development of the institute.

Addressing a press conference, the director stated that the implementation would be carried out in a phased manner depending upon the availability of funds expected to be mobilized through the AIIMS planned budgets, government support and loans. Plans for trauma centre, extension of the OPD block, laundry services block, emergency department, dental college, CN tower and IRCH building are all in an advanced stage, he said.

The director admitted that over years, AIIMS campus witnessed haphazard growth due to lack of proper perspective plan. "The expansion of various buildings and facilities has taken place ad-hoc as per the need of various departments. This has manifested in several temporary and permanent unplanned structures, scattered services, chaotic traffic and lack of parking space besides under utilization of land resulting in paucity of space for future," he said.

The strategic and comprehensive master plan for the institute was prepared to cope up with the increasing patient care workload and other requisites.

These developments would actually result in more greenery, more open spaces and better roads system as proposed by the design team. Additional facilities to be added include more housing, a conference and seminar complex, hostels and specialty centres. More beds and research facilities would go a long way in addressing pressing shortcomings of the institute. Separate zones would be re-created as institutional, residential, hostel, services and utilities zones.

The hospital was established in 1995 as an institution of national importance with the objective to develop patterns of teaching in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education to all medical colleges and other allied institutions in India. AIIMS currently has 1,656 beds, 475 faculty and 50 departments. There is an OPD and clinic attendance close to 20 lakh and over 1 lakh of surgical procedures annually.