The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Madurai is expected to be functional from end of 2028, said Tamil Nadu Health and Family Welfare Minister Ma Subramanian here on Sunday.
The Minister was here to flag-off a marathon to promote the need for blood donation. About 4,000 boys and girls from government medical college and other educational institutions participated.
Speaking to media persons, Mr Subramanian said that according to Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) officials, who are funding the AIIMS project, certain coordination issues had led to the delay. A global tender would soon be floated. The terms and various conditions would be finalised by end of this year.
In all probabilities, it may take three to four years for construction. Hence, the AIIMS would become functional by 2028 end, he clarified.
To a query, he said that in Madurai AIIMS, there was no contribution from the Union government and it was fully funded by JICA, while the Centre had extended its contribution in the establishment of AIIMS in other States. “The previous State government, had not given a thought to this point and hence the delay,” he noted.
Blood donation, TN pushed to second place
The Minister appealed to the public to donate blood. To promote this, the government had recently launched an App in which the donors could register themselves.
Admitting that Tamil Nadu, which was number one in blood donation in the country for almost a decade had been pushed to the second place and West Bengal had taken the top position, he urged the public to donate blood. In Tamil Nadu, Madurai Government Rajaji Hospital had the biggest blood bank and also had a state-of-the-art blood sampling facility.
Chief Minister M. K. Stalin was keen to establish more blood banks in the State and recently, the Minister said, he had opened one facility in Kollimalai. This had been welcomed by locals as they need not rush to Namakkal or Coimbatore for blood anymore.
The Minister said that there were 107 government-run blood banks in Tamil Nadu and 228 by private sector. More people should come forward voluntarily to donate blood, he said and added that at the age of 64, he had been donating blood regularly. He had given blood at least 70 times so far.
Bio gas facility to replace LPG refills
The announcements made in the Legislative Assembly for the Health Department were being fulfilled and one among them was to establish a bio-gas plant at ₹50 lakh, which has been dedicated today, he said. About 700 students who are residents at the Madurai Medical College would get food that has been cooked through the bio-gas facility replacing LPG refill.
The Health and Family department has been minimising petrol, diesel and replacing them with eco-friendly energy such as battery and gas, he added.
Minister P. Moorthy, Madurai Collector M. S. Sangeetha, Mayor Indrani Pon Vasanth, GRH Dean A. Rathnavel, MLAs Boominathan and G. Thalapathi and among others participated.
Prizes were given to the winners of the marathon on the occasion.
