Union Minister for Health Harsh Vardhan has promised M.K. Raghavan, MP, that Kozhikode will be considered for setting up an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
He gave this assurance after Mr. Raghavan had an interaction with Dr. Harsh Vardhan at the latter’s office in New Delhi on Wednesday. The Union Minister promised that he would visit the city. (Recently, the Minister had announced that the Union government planned to establish an AIIMS-like institute in each State.)
Mr. Raghavan apprised Dr. Harsh Vardhan of the need for setting up an AIIMS in Kozhikode considering the backwardness of the Malabar region in the health sector. The proposed AIIMS would benefit the people of six districts in north Kerala and cities such as Mangalore, Mysore, and Coimbatore in neighbouring States, he said.
Good connectivityKozhikode, which had sufficient government land and good connectivity by air, rail, and road, was ideal for setting up the AIIMS. Over 200 acres of government land was available in Kozhikode. The matter should be taken up with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Mr. Raghavan said.
He said that Kerala was doing well in health care but specialised and advanced treatment was unaffordable to the common man and research in health care was minimal. People in the northern part of the State were forced to travel to places such as Thiruvananthapuram for specialised treatment. In major urban areas, healthcare was of adequate quality and occasionally met Western standards, but access to quality medical care was limited or unavailable in most rural areas.
