The Union health ministry has further pushed the deadline for making the proposed six AIIMS-like institutions fully operational. According to the new deadline, the medical colleges at six sites will be made functional from academic year 2012-13 and hospitals in the year 2013-14.


As per the earlier plans, these hospitals were to be functional by the end of this year as the project has been on for almost five years now. The Government had approved setting up of six AIIMS-like institutions in the states of Bihar (Patna), Chhattisgarh (Raipur), Madhya Pradesh (Bhopal), Orissa (Bhubaneswar), Rajasthan (Jodhpur) and Uttarakhand (Rishikesh) under the first phase of Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY).


“Construction of Medical Colleges and Hospital Complexes at all the six AIIMS-like institutions in first phase has started and is in full swing. Residential complexes at Jodhpur and Raipur have been completed and the work is in progress at remaining sites. An amount of Rs.847 crore has been released so far,” according to official sources.


“The sites for setting up AIIMS-like institutions have been identified on the basis of various socio-economic indicators like human development index, literacy rate, population living below poverty line, per capita income, and health indicators like population to bed ratio, prevalence rate of serious communicable diseases, infant mortality rate etc.,” Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had stated in the Parliament recently.


To manage the running of the new institutions, the health ministry has also appointed mentor institutes. As per this, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi will be the mentor institute for the two new institutions at Patna and Bhubaneswar. Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh will take care of the two institutions at Rishikesh and Jodhpur. Jawaharlal Institute of Post-graduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry will run the affairs of the two new institutions at Bhopal and Raipur, sources said.


The new institutions were planned under the PMSSY with a view to ensure better and wider medical care in the tertiary healthcare sector. The Union Government approved the scheme in March 2006.