The first phase of the North-Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) coming up at Shillong, in Meghalaya, is to be commissioned in March 2004. NEIGRIHMS is designed to be an autonomous postgraduate medical institute, the first of its kind in the north east and the third in the country to be set up by the central government.

The institute is expected to play a major role in rendering high-tech health care service and high standard research particularly focusing on preventive medicines and to bring relief to thousands of ailing poor in the north east.

The Institute will serve as an apex co-ordination centre to guide the health policies of north eastern council and also co-ordinate with the central government plans and programmes of health care. The institute shall co-coordinate with international health organizations like WHO, UNICEF, World Bank, etc.

The institute will also function as a centre of excellence for medical education to generate health manpower in specialty, super-specialty medical departments and paramedics. It has been designed as a postgraduate medical institute with 35 postgraduate departments on the line of PGIMER, Chandigarh and AIIMS, New Delhi. A PG College of Nursing and Pharmacy is also to be added to the Institute

The 500-bed super specialty hospital is under construction at Maw Diang Diang, about 7 kilometres from the main city, on 273 acres of prime land. The estimated cost of the project is nearly Rs.423 crore. About Rs.200 crore is being spent on constructing the hospital buildings. The entire project is likely to be completed by 2005. The engineering work has been completed. The first 300 beds in the hospital will be available by March 2004.

This referral hospital is expected to be a boon for all the north-eastern states once it is fully commissioned. Patients will not have to go for specialized treatment elsewhere in the country. It is also designed to nurture local talents. A heli-ambulance is among the facilities that NEIGRIHMS will have to airlift critically ill patients from anywhere in the northeast for treatment. Patients from Bangladesh will also largely benefit from the hospital.

Academics of the autonomous institute shall be started initially with the affiliation to the north eastern Hill University within the MCI frames. The autonomous institute would be upgraded as a 'Deemed University' to hold examination and grant degrees, diplomas and other academic distinction in future.

The governing council of the institute comprises of 30 members with Union Health Minister as the chairman.