Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan and Union Food Processing Industries Minister Harsimrat Badal on Monday inaugurated the OPD services at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Bathinda.
“The Institute will be beneficial not only for the state of Punjab but also its neighbouring states,” said Dr Harsh Vardhan.
He said that the Orthopaedic, General Surgery including surgical oncology and urologist Paediatric surgery consultation, General Medicine, ENT, Ophthalmology, Psychiatry, Dermatology, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Dental, Radiology, X-ray Ultrasound and Colour Doppler, Basic Biochemistry and Basic Haematology tests services have been started in AIIMS Bathinda from today.
“Currently, there will be no emergency services or indoor facility but the same will be started in November 2020.
The Institute has a special family medicine clinic also.
Ayush centre will also be there in the AIIMS campus Bathinda,” he said.
Dr Harsh Vardhan said that a satellite centre of PGIMER, Chandigarh, will be opened in Ferozpur district of Punjab. “Union Government is working on 22 AIIMS in the country to give better medical health services to the people. As many 157 new medical colleges are being established in the country, out of these 75 medical colleges are in the aspirational districts of the country,” he added.
Union Minister and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Badal said that AIIMS has fulfilled the demand for advanced super-specialty healthcare to the people of the Malwa region for the first time since independence. “Initially, the OPD services would be equipped to handle around 1000 patients every day and this would be increased in due course to handle 5000 patients daily,” she said.
All OPDs will work from 9 am onwards and registration will be from 8 am till 11 am.
Harsimrat said that the entire Institute would start running on full steam by August next year and this would include start of In-Patient Departments in the 750-bedded hospital. “Four super specialty departments Urology, Paediatric Surgery, Surgical Oncology and Neurology would start shortly with doctors having joined the Institute. A 45-bedded trauma centre would also start functioning next year besides the Medical and Nursing Colleges,” she added.
Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for granting AIIMS to Bathinda to ensure super specialty services at subsidized rates to people of the Malwa region, she said that it was a matter of satisfaction that Bathinda AIIMS facility was among the first to become operational amongst all 13 AIIMS institutes sanctioned in the country.
Punjab’s Medical Education and Research Minister Om Prakash Soni also thanked the Union Government for AIIMS and assured all cooperation and support from Punjab Government to achieve the target of health for all.
AIIMS Bathinda, Punjab, was approved under Phase-V of the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in July 2016. The cost of the project is Rs 925 crores which will be completed by June 2020. The foundation stone for AIIMS at Bathinda was laid in November 2016.
