Four places identified for AIIMS in Kerala

Centre has sought State’s reply before July 19, says Chief Minister

Kerala has identified four locations fit for establishing an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the State and the list of these locations is being sent to the Union Health Ministry, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told the Assembly on Wednesday.

Deadline

Dismissing the fear that the State had lost the AIIMS promised by the Centre recently since no mention of it came in the Union Budget last week, Mr. Chandy said the Centre’s communication asking the State to propose four sites fit for establishing an AIIMS was sent on June 19. The instruction was to send the reply within one month, which meant before July 19.

Therefore, he said, the four AIIMSs to be established in four other States under this year’s Union Budget were not part of the AIIMSs proposed under the Union Health Ministry’s communication dated June 19.

Opposition charge

Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar too gave this explanation to refute the Opposition allegation: “One cannot announce the result before holding the examination. The budget came before the time for giving reply to the communication expired.”

They were replying to a notice served by P.T.A. Rahim of the National Secular Conference for moving an adjournment motion to discuss “the ineptitude of the State government, which had led to Kerala losing an AIIMS in this year’s Union Budget.” Mr. Rahim said that had the State government acted promptly to the Centre’s communication dated June 19, the Union Budget would have included Kerala for an AIIMS. Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan said the government should take care to ensure prompt action on similar matters in future.

The four locations identified for inclusion in the list being sent to the Centre for establishing an AIIMS in the State are: The open jail compound at Nettukaltheri in Thiruvananthauram district, land at Kinalur in Kozhikode district with the Industries Department, land belonging to the medical college at Kottayam, and the HMT land at Kalamasserry in Ernakulam district.

Mr. Chandy said that, according to the communication from the Centre, a team from New Delhi would visit the State and make the final selection of the location of the AIIMS, which would be established in the State at a future date.