Name AIIMS after Vajpayee: Naidu

Union Minister for Health J.P Nadda having a word with Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu during the foundation stone-laying ceremony for AIIMS at Mangalagiri on Saturday.- PHOTO: T. Vijaya Kumar

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has proposed that the new AIIMS at Mangalagiri be named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He was speaking at the foundation ceremony for AIIMS on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda said the country had been grappling with a steep rise in the incidence of non-communicable diseases like diabetes and cancer. He added that two national cancer institutes, one in Jhajjar, Haryana, and another in Kolkata, were being established. In addition, 20 cancer institutes and 50 tertiary cancer care centres will be set up.

To reduce MMR and IMR in the country, the government has decided to add new vaccines, taking the total number of vaccines administered in various stages of growth of a child to 11.