Bhubaneshwar:
Requesting expedited completion of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Bhubaneshwar, the Odisha government on Monday appealed to the Centre to start the academic session in the institute from August.
"It is requested that expeditious steps may be taken so as to start this academic session in AIIMS, Bhubaneshwar from August itself," Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wrote to Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Stating that Odisha government would provide all support, Naveen Patnaik reminded Mr Azad about his assurance that the academic session for 50 students in the AIIMS in Bhubaneshwar would be started in September this year.
During his recent visit on May 6, Mr Azad had said that despite the slow pace of construction work, the first academic session of the academy would begin from September this year while the hospital would be ready next year.
The hospital would be completed next year so that the students who join the MBBS course at the new AIIMS centre would be able to utilise the facility, Azad had said after visiting the site and reviewing the constructing work.
The institute is coming up on 100 acres of land at Sijua on the outskirts of the city. The project consists of three components- hospital, medical college and housing and work has started on all the three areas.
The hospital is being built at a cost of Rs 264 crore, while around Rs 100 crore would be spent on the medical college and Rs 50 crore on housing.
NDA government at the Centre had proposed to set up six branches of AIIMS at Patna, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Raipur and Rishikesh in 2003.