Fast-track admission of emergency patients, Nadda tells AIIMS

Union Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda on Wednesday directed the All India Institute of Medical Sciences here to examine ways to fast-track admission of patients requiring emergency treatment and interventions.

The health and family welfare minister gave the directions in this regard to AIIMS director M.C. Misra while chairing the 149th meeting of the reconstituted Institute Body, of which Nadda is the president.

Nadda said the institute was in a sustained phase of expansion and all efforts should be made to ensure its pre-eminent status as the apex medical sciences university of India.

At the meeting, Misra made a presentation on the AIIMS outpatient department transformation project, the status of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at Jhajjar in Haryana, and the redevelopment of the western campus and expansion of Trauma Centre.

"The OPD project has benefitted over 20 lakh patients till date and cut down waiting time significantly. The NCI represents India's largest public health project and would be completed by March 2017," Misra said.

The redevelopment of AIIMS western campus would involve construction of 3,900 quarters for faculty and staff. Trauma Centre's expansion would add 2,000 beds to AIIMS' existing strength and house the new centres for digestive diseases, ENT and diabetology in addition to the spine centre and new Trauma Centre block.