With the Bihar Government clarifying that the Darbhanga Medical college Hospital (DMCH) is not a heritage building, the Union Health Ministry has given its nod for setting up a second AIIMS-like institute on the campus of the medical facility in the State. The first AIIMS has been set up in Patna.

Bihar, thus will be the third State in the country to boast of having two AIIMS-like institutes. Uttar Pradesh  has one each in Rai Bareli and Gorakhpur. Jammu & Kashmir also has one each in the two union territories.

A proposal for setting up the AIIMS-like institute in DMH in Bihar was cleared last week by Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, said a senior Health Ministry official.

Initially, the Centre had rejected the Nitish Government’s proposal for setting up the super specialty institutes like AIIMS, pointing out that the land was not fit for.

But with the State government asserting that the building is not a heritage structure and making various commitments concerning infrastructure, the Ministry gave green signal to the proposal for setting up the super specialty institute in the area sprawling over 200 acre land. The cost of the project is estimated to be around Rs 1,200 crore.

A proposal will now be sent to the Cabinet and according to sources the construction work for the second AIIMS is likely to start by the end of this year.

The officer said that the Bihar Government has assured that the four-lane road connectivity from the institute to NH-57 and a railway over bridge shall be provided and the cost of the required sand filling shall be borne by it. The land for the AIIMS like institute will be provided within six months.

Earlier, a health ministry team had flagged lack of proper drainage system for discharge of treated nd storm water and that the present approach roads to the proposed AIIMS site was very congested. It also stated that a four-lane road connectivity to the campus from state roads or national highway and from city arterial road is essential.

Apart from 22 new AIIMS which have been announced/sanctioned, proposals for setting up AIIMS-like hospitals have also been received from Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tripura and Mizoram.