Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has urged the Central government to recognise NEIGRIHMS as an ‘Institute of National Importance’.
During a meeting with Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in New Delhi today, Sangma presented a memorandum that emphasised NEIGRIHMS’s critical role in providing healthcare not only to Meghalaya but also to the neighbouring states.
Sangma also said that enhanced autonomy for NEIGRIHMS would lead to improved operational efficiency and elevate the standards of quality and accountability in healthcare delivery by the health institute which will benefit the people of Meghalaya and the wider population of the North East region.
Currently, NEIGRIHMS is tagged as a ‘Centre of Excellence’ by the Parliament.
Recently, the Centre said that it is proposing to declare NEIGRIHMS as an ‘Institute of National Importance’.
This was stated by the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in a letter to Meghalaya minister A L Hek in December 2023.
Hek had on October 18 sought the intervention of Mandaviya for upgrading NEIGRIHMS to an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
However, Mandaviya in his letter to Hek said, “It is informed that currently no proposal is under consideration for upgradation of NEIGRIHMS, Shillong as AIIMS however, a proposal for declaring NEIGRIHMS as Institute of National Importance is under consideration in the ministry.”
The status of ‘Institute of National Importance’ will lead to added facilities and employees, including doctors and specialists and this in turn will ensure that NEIGRIHMS can retain doctors in the institute.
In the recently concluded budget session of the State Assembly, leader of opposition Ronnie V. Lyngdoh had said that lack of ‘Institute of National Importance’ status to NEIGRIHMS has led to exodus of doctors and specialists for better pay packages and facilities outside Meghalaya.
He also said that there has been no cadre review of the institute which will give incentives to the people working in NEIGRIHMS including pay parity.