AIIMS Bhubaneswar to start first batch by Sept 15

The Bhubaneswar campus of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will start its first batch of medical professionals by September 15 this year as other formalities such as faculty and director selection has been completed, said Union health secretary P K Pradhan.

“The (entrance examination) result will probably be out sometime this week and then we will start the process of counseling. I believe we will be able to start the classes by September 15,” he said.

Efforts are taken to complete the campus building by the end of March next year, he added.

In its first batch, AIIMS Bhubaneswar has the seat strength for 50 students. But from 2013-2014 educational year, the seat strength is likely to increase to 150.

Meanwhile, the cabinet committee on appointments has selected directors for all six such institutions, to be set up at various parts of the country. For Bhubaneswar branch, A K Mohapatra, a practicing neuro surgeon at the Delhi AIIMS has been selected as the director.

It may be noted the erstwhile NDA government at the Centre had proposed to set up six branches of AIIMS at Patna, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Raipur and Rishikesh in 2003. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had given its nod to the projects in March, 2006.

AIIMS is coming up on 100 acres of land at Sijua on the outskirts of the city. The state government had approved Rs 18 lakh for putting up an 11 KV line at the AIIMS project site while an additional Rs 9 lakh was approved for beautification of the campus.

The state government had also constituted a project monitoring committee headed by the state Chief Secretary B K Patnaik to review the status of the AIIMS project every month.

The AIIMS-Bhubaneswar project consists of three components- hospital, medical college and housing and work has started on all the three areas. While the hospital is being taken up at a cost of Rs 264 crore, around Rs 100 crore will be spent on the medical college and Rs 50 crore on housing.