The Pondicherry government plans to approach the Centre to open a branch of the Jawaharlal Nehru Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (JIPMER) at Karaikal, part of the Union Territory. According to the Health Minister, E. Valsraj, the Centre would be approached soon to discuss the issue.

JIPMER is a centrally sponsored institute and hospital and is one of the acclaimed institutes in the south, so also in the country. Pondicherry has two more regions that form the Union Terrritory viz Karaikal and Yanam. Karaikal borders Tamil Nadu.

According to the Health Minister, the decision to have one more branch of the Institute is to ease pressure at the main institute in Pondicherry at the same helping people from the Karaikal region to get the best medical care without coming to Pondicherry or any other hospital in Tamil Nadu.

The Health Minister, however, did not confirm when the Centre would be approached or how the funding would be done. Though the Centre grants financial assistance to the main institute, it does not mandate funding of branch or branches of a main institute. It would then insist on joint funding.