The Central government has no proposal to upgrade NEIGRIHMS as the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
However, a proposal for declaring NEIGRIHMS as an Institute of National Importance (INI) “is under consideration” of the Health Ministry.
This was informed by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in his letter to State cabinet minister Alexander L. Hek recently.
It may be noted that Hek had written to Mandaviya urging the Health Ministry to consider upgrading NEIGRIHMS as AIIMS.
Hek also mentioned that the Central government had planned to set up AIIMS in each state under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna (PMSSY) scheme.
However, with the reply of the Union health minister, it is clear that Meghalaya will not be given this benefit under the PMSSY scheme.
The PMSSY, which is a central sector scheme, aims at correcting the imbalances in the availability of affordable tertiary healthcare facilities in different parts of the country in general, and augmenting facilities for quality medical education in the under-served states in particular.
Under this scheme, new All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) hospitals are established and the government medical colleges are upgraded.
Each new AIIMS will add 100 Under Graduate (MBBS) and 60 B.Sc (Nursing) seats, 15-20 super specialty departments and around 750 hospital beds.
Each new AIIMS would cater to around 1,500 OPD patients per day and around 1,000 IPD patients per month.