1,700 additional beds to be added in AIIMS: J P Nadda

1,700 new beds will be added to the existing capacity of country's premier medical institute AIIMS, Lok Sabha was informed today.

Union Health Minister J P Nadda said government is working on enhancing the capacity of capital's medical institutes, which receive a large number of patients from across the country.

"An additional 1,700 beds will be added in the existing capacity of AIIMS. This will be 71% more of the current capacity of the AIIMS," he said during Question Hour.

The Minister said the capacity of Safdarjung hospital will be increased by adding 1,300 new beds.

Nadda said both AIIMS and Safdarjung hospital receive more than 9,000 OPD patients each daily and the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital receive around 5,000 such patients a day.

He said the capacities of RML hospital and Lady Hardinge medical college will be increased by 38% and 35% respectively.

The Minister said the number of patients visiting central government hospitals was much more than their handling capacity in terms of number of beds, manpower and other resources.

These hospitals do not only attend to the patients of the city but also those from neighbouring states and other far-flung areas of the country.

"As a result, there is a waiting period for certain procedures, which varies from Department to Department in these hospitals. As such, various clinical departments make their own waiting lists of patients in need of admission, taking into consideration the (condition of) patients, urgency of treatment required and bed availability on a particular day," he said.

Nadda said online registration has been introduced in capital's hospitals, including AIIMS, and so far 11 central government hospitals have introduced this system and over one lakh appointments have already been taken using this facility.

At present, the system is in a nascent stage and its functionality and performance is closely monitored for further improvisation. Immediate remedial measures are taken to address any shortcomings in the operation of the system, he said.