The Opposition Congress in Chhattisgarh has expressed their gratitude to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for setting up All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) which was inaugurated here on Thursday.

State Congress president Bhupesh Baghel and leader of Opposition in the Assembly TS Singh Deo said, “It is a unique gift of the Central Congress Government to the people of Chhattisgarh.”

“The people of Chhattisgarh will no longer need to travel to cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, and Chennai for treatment. Besides the students of Chhattisgarh will also get medical education of international status, most advanced and modern machines and equipments for treatment,’’ they said. 

The leaders also expressed their gratitude to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Union Minister for health Gulham Nabi Azad. Azad has also announced to set up a cancer institute in Bilaspur at a cost of `120 crore and a cancer hospital at Manendragarh at a cost of `45 crore, they said.

Reaffirming its commitment to Chhattisgarh, the Central Government had earlier gifted the State Indian Institute of management for management studies, central university, National Institute of Technology, a modern airport at Raipur and railway corridor.

The Korba-Raipur intercity express which was introduced on the initiative of central agriculture and food processing Minister Charan Das Mahant is also a gift of the Central Government, they said.

On one hand, the Central Government has been trying to improve the health care by setting up institute like All India Institute of medical science, while on the other hand, the State Government is not able to provide the necessary facilities in the existing medical colleges, they said.

It was because of the apathy of the State Government that the students are deprived  of getting quality education in medical colleges and management institutes in the State, they said.