New Delhi: Speeding up the process to set
up six AIIMS-like institutions, the Union Health Ministry
today announced a reward of up to Rs 10 crore to contractors
who are able to complete the construction work within the
stipulated two years.
"We have set a deadline of two years. If the
contractors are able to finish the work before that they
would be rewarded up to Rs 10 crore," Union Health Minister
Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters here of the unique incentive
after the AIIMS convocation ceremony.
Azad, however, added in case the work was not
completed within two and a half years, the contracts would be
cancelled and penalties imposed on the builders.
The bidding process for the tenders began November two
and will continue till November 30.
The Centre has invited bids for the construction of
six AIIMS-like institutions at an estimated cost of Rs 820
crore per institution, meant to correct regional imbalances in
the availability of reliable and affordable tertiary
health care services.
The institutes will be one each in Bihar (Patna),
Chhattisgarh (Raipur), Madhya Pradesh (Bhopal), Orissa
(Bhubaneshwar), Rajasthan (Jodhpur) and Uttarakhand
(Rishikesh).
Each of these institutions will have a 960 bedded
hospital, of which 500 beds will be for the medical college
hospital; 300 beds for Speciality/Super Speciality departments
and 100 beds for ICU/Accident and trauma.
In addition, 30 beds for Physical Medicine and
Rehabilitation (PMR) and 30 beds for Ayush have been kept.
Azad expressed concern over dilution of original role
of AIIMS due to the heavy patient load. He said for bringing
the research and innovation to the fore it is important to
de-congest the institute.
Outlining his strategy for this, he said the setting
up of 8 AIIMS like institutions and upgradation of 19
government medical colleges along with strengthening of health
infrastructure at rural, district and state levels will
reduce the pressure on AIIMS.
"Most of the clearances for the AIIMS like
institutions have been procured and civil tenders are being
issued," he said.
In order to encourage doctors to go to rural and
difficult areas, 50 per cent of the seats in the post-graduate
diploma courses are reserved for medical officers of
government service who have served at least three years in the
rural areas.
Weightage of 10 per cent for each tier of rural
service with a maximum of 30 per cent has been prescribed for
entrance examinations for post graduate courses.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, November 17, 2009, 00:03