STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The Executive Director of AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences), Guwahati, Prof. (Dr.) Ashok Puranik, said that the AIIMS would be a boon for the North East Region and that it would bridge the healthcare gap in the region.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the AIIMS, Guwahati, on April 14, 2023.
Briefing the media here today, Dr. Puranik said that AIIMS Guwahati started patient care services via telemedicine in 2022 with limited OPD for local residents. Most of the clinical departments are functional. He further stated that the MBBS course started in AIIMS Guwahati from the academic year 2020–21. The first batch of MBBS students at AIIMS, Guwahati, started their classes from a temporary campus at Narakasur hilltop, in the Institute of Paramedical Sciences adjoining Guwahati Medical College. On March 5, 2022, the academic and administrative activities shifted to the permanent campus at Changsari.
The medical institute currently has 199 MBBS students, 78 faculty members, 125 nursing officers, and 12 senior residents. To facilitate clinical exposure and clinical postings as per the curriculum for 4th and 5th semester students, an MoU has been signed with Maligaon Railway Hospital.
The AIIMS-Guwahati was planned under Phase V of the 22 new AIIMS of the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna (PMSSY). The foundation stone of the institute was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 26, 2017 at Changsari in the Kamrup district on an area of 189.20 acres.
The Union Cabinet approved the setting up of AIIMS at Guwahati, Assam, at a cost of Rs 1,123 crore in May 2017 for state-of-the-art patient care, high-quality medical education, and cutting-edge research with the vision of correcting regional imbalances in the availability of affordable and reliable tertiary healthcare services, augmenting facilities for quality medical education, and providing comprehensive, quality, and holistic tertiary care health services to the people of Assam and neighbouring states at their doorstep.
Prof. Puranik said that the patient care services have been started via telemedicine since August 2022 and limited OPD for local residents since September 2022. Most of the clinical departments are functional. Average OPD footfall at AIIMS Guwahati is around 150 patients per day at present. Services available include day care, pharmacy (Amrit Pharmacy), laboratory facilities, and radiological investigations. The state-of-the-art hospital will provide high-quality patient care services in various specialties and super specialties, including cardiology, neurology, burns and plastic surgery, cardiothoracic and vascular surgery, interventional radiology, etc. He said that it would take three or four years for AIIMS to be a full-fledged superspecialty medical institute.
He said the facilities envisaged at AIIMS, Guwahati, include a hospital complex with 720 beds, a medical college with 125 seats for postgraduate courses, a nursing college with 75 seats, an Ayush Block with 30 beds, residential accommodation for faculty and staff, hostel accommodation for UG and PG students, along with outdoor and indoor sports facilities such as an amphitheatre, a night shelter, a guest house, an auditorium complex, a community centre, etc.
He also said that the institute will also provide state-of-the art cancer care, advanced laparoscopy facilities, trauma care, and advanced futuristic interventions like robotic surgery, organ transplantation, regenerative medicine, genetics, a simulation lab, etc.
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