Rajkot: In a major boost to tertiary health care in Gujarat, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Rajkot is likely to be fully operational by October next year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation of the permanent campus of AIIMS Rajkot on December 31, 2020.
Director, AIIMS Rajkot Dr Chandan Dev Singh Katoch told IANS that the full-fledged hospital is expected to start by October 2023. “The OPD services started in December last year and construction of the hospital is underway. We are expecting to start fully operational by October 2023,” Katoch said.
The AIIMS Rajkot shall be a 750-bedded hospital with multiple specialty as well as superspeciality departments. Of the 750 beds, 30 beds will be for the Ayush department.
“The project cost of construction is about RS 1,195 crore which includes an allocation of Rs 185 crore towards state of art medical equipment. The Gujarat government has allotted about 201 acre of land for the project and taken care of access roads, water facilities and provision of electricity connection,” Katoch said.
He said that in accordance with the concept of early operationalisation, the OPD services have started in 13 departments at the permanent campus near Khandheri-Parapipaliya. Currently, 13 departments — general medicine, general surgery, ophthalmology, ENT, obstetrics and Gynaecology, dermatology, orthopedics, pediatrics, radiology, community and family medicines, anesthesiology, psychiatry and pulmonary medicines — are functional. Dentistry will also become functional soon.
“The OPD service is run by 14 specialist doctors. We are also running a wellness clinic. Our OPD has state of the art equipment. Currently, we are receiving around 100 patients everyday in OPD. We are expecting the number to increase in coming months as the local administration has provided bus services from city to hospital,” Katoch said.
Rajkot District Collector Arun Mahesh Babu told IANS that the AIIMS Rajkot will be a a super specialty centre for the specific department as decided by the government.
Talking about AIIMS Rajkot, member of BJP good governance department Virendra Sachdeva said, “As per the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision, AIIMS in Rajkot will reduce the gaps in affordable tertiary health care and generate wellness amongst the general population.”
–IANS