New Delhi: Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday virtually presided over the commencement of the first batch of MBBS students of AIIMS Guwahati in the presence of Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare.
Extending his congratulations to all students of the first batch, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, “AIIMS Guwahati is part of new prestigious institutions that were conceived under the 5th Phase of the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna (PMSSY). Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is taking forward the work of Sh. Atal Bihari Vajpayee; it was because of him that the spell of almost 50 years was broken for the 2nd AIIMS to be born even as a concept. While the short-term objective of establishing new AIIMS in various parts of India is to reduce the ‘gaps’ in affordable tertiary health care, the long-term vision is to generate wellnesses amongst the general population of India.”
Elated at the possibility of better care for the people of Assam, he said, “This shall be a 750 bedded hospital with multiple specialties as well as Super Specialty Departments. It is one of the most ambitious projects with a total outlay of Rs. 1123 Crores, which includes an allocation of Rs. 185 Crores to state-of-the-art medical equipment.”
Speaking on the Government’s aim of striving to achieve the WHO target of the doctor-patient ratio of ‘1 for every 1000’ by this year itself, he noted, “From Academic Session 2013-14 onwards, the total number of MBBS seats in the six new AIIMS has gone up to 600, providing an opportunity to an additional 300 MBBS aspirants. With the addition of new AIIMS, including AIIMS Guwahati, the overall availability of MBBS seats in the country has risen to 42,545 in Government Institutions. These MBBS seats will see a further increase in the future as AIIMS, Guwahati shifts from its temporary campus to the permanent campus and infrastructure and Human resources augmentation takes place. AIIMS Guwahati shall have 125 MBBS seats, including the seats for EWS students. Also, it shall have 60 Nursing students in due course of time.”
He informed of the government’s endeavor to increase the overall availability of MBBS seats to 80,000.
Chief Minister of Assam, Sarbananda Sonowal
and state Assembly ministers like Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, Pijush Hazarika graced the occasion with their physical presence as Guests of Honor.