NEW DELHI: Worried over complaints of hospital-acquired infections and inefficient buildings, the Centre has decided to abide by international standards while constructing hospitals, starting with the upcoming AIIMS. This is the first time that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will rope in foreign firms for building public hospitals.
The first round of bidding will be on September 29, and selected firms will begin making presentations on October 14, a health ministry official said.
The first three AIIMS to be constructed with foreign collabaration will be in Maharashtra, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. A similar model will be followed in the other nine AIIMS. Each costing `11,000 crore. “The designs of the buildings will be subjective and place-specific. For example, AIIMS in Rajasthan will be made using Kota stone,” an official said.
The Centre has identified land for setting up 19 new AIIMS in the country under Phase V of the Pradhan Mantri Swashthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY). The Centre will acquire over 100 acres for each project.
Under Phase I of PMSSY, six AIIMS were set up, one each in Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh in 2012. Under Phase II, AIIMS were sanctioned for Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh and another in West Bengal in 2013. While the Rae Bareli AIIMS did not take off as the state government delayed handing over land, there was a conflict over the location for the West Bengal one.
An AIIMS at Kalyani in West Bengal was sanctioned under Phase IV in 2014.
As part of the final Phase V, two AIIMS will be set up in Jammu and Kashmir and one each in Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Assam and Bihar. Of these, a site has only been identified in Bhatinda for Punjab.
The new AIIMS will aim to correct the imbalances in the availability of affordable healthcare facilities in the country.