Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has proposed the Centre for the setting up of a second All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Sundargarh district.
In a letter to the Union Health and Family Welfare secretary Rajesh Bhushan, Chief Secretary Asit Kumar Tripathy said that Odisha has a fully functional AllMS in Bhubaneswar which has emerged as one of the leading AllMS in the country in terms of medical education and quality health care.
Stating that a second AllMS has been established in Bihar and a similar proposal is under consideration in another state, he requested the Health Secretary to consider the proposal of the Odisha government for a second AIIMS in the western Odisha district of Sundargarh at the earliest in view of the health care requirements.
Tripathy further said that there is a readily available infrastructure for medical college and hospital in Sundargarh. As a CSR initiative, an MoU has been signed between the state government and the NTPC to set up a Medical College and Hospital. The construction of the project has been completed and the equipment procurement process is going on. The hospital is designed for 500 beds and the college will have 100 MBBS seats.
“Therefore, this available infrastructure can be utilised for setting up of AIIMS within a short period of time. It will cater to a large tribal population in the area and help in providing quality tertiary care in the backward area of western Odisha, The location is easily accessible through road, and air (Jharsuguda airport),” the Chief Secretary pointed out.
