BHUBANESWAR: The Union Ministry of Health has asked All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar, to commence work on establishment of its centres of excellence within three months.
Hailed as the most advanced among the six new institutions, AIIMS Bhubaneswar is set to have four stand alone Centres of Excellence in Mental Health and Neurosciences, Oncology, Cardiology and Cardiothoracic Surgery, Nephrology and Kidney Transplantation along with a host of other facilities.
The State Government has already identified and allotted 50 acres of land adjacent to the AIIMS campus here but the institute needs more land for establishment of the centres. Additional land requirement should be pursued with the Government for speedy allotment, the Union Health Ministry has stressed.
The directives have been issued following announcements made by Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan during his visit to AIIMS Bhubaneswar last month. While proclaiming AIIMS Bhubaneswar to be the best among all new AIIMS, even better than AIIMS New Delhi, he had disclosed plans for establishment of the four 100-bed independent Centres of Excellence. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had also assured him of provisioning additional land for the purpose.
Besides the Centres of Excellence, the Minister had also announced an integrated treatment facility for patients combining AYUSH and allopathic medication and techniques, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Department of Geriatric Medicine and the Satellite Centre at Balasore. Construction work of the School of International Public Health and a 300-bed multi-speciality hospital under the satellite centre should be completed within 2015-end. While Director Prof AK Mahapatra has been hailed as the best man to lead the institution, he has been asked to get the 1000-bed hospital including the super speciality wings operational by December 20 so that it can be dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 25, the birthday of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The contractors have been issued with an ultimatum to fulfil their contractual obligations and complete work by the set deadline.
“All package contractors must deploy more manpower and resources and work round the clock to complete their projects on time. Any failure of default will draw strong action from the Ministry including blacklisting,” a circular issued by the Ministry has stated.