22 new AIIMS coming up to ease regional imbalance in healthcare

Ensuring the highest standards of medical education was a top priority for the government, 22 new AIIMS will be established across the country under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana to reduce regional imbalance in the healthcare and tertiary fields. As medical education forms the apex of the healthcare pyramid, it is the quality of graduating doctors and specialists that will determine the quality of services in the country for generations to come; therefore, the center has also planned for rapid expansion of medical education and 24 new medical colleges have been announced in this year’s budget. 20 state cancer institutes and 50 tertiary cancer care centers are also being set up. No patient should be denied treatment on account of being poor or belonging to the lower strata of society, adding that the center has recently launched the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Abhiyan program to provide assured universal healthcare to over 500 million people from the vulnerable sections.

Furthermore, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu and Nadda laid the foundation stones for two buildings at the AIIMS, Bhubaneswar campus. One 560-bedded night shelter building (`260 million), funded by the National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco), will be constructed in the AIIMS premises for the requirement of patients and their attendants. Similarly, a foundation stone was also laid for construction of a Burns Treatment Center at the cost of Rs. 148.2 million funded by the NTPC. It will have comprehensive treatment for burns patients.