AIIMS Bilaspur will be made functional within next 6 months: Anurag Thakur

Union Sports and Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said on Sunday that the All India Institute Of Medical Science (AIIMS) in Bilaspur will be made functional within the next six months.

"Project of making AIIMS in Bilaspur, worth Rs 1,471 crore with 750 beds, medical college facilities, 64 ICU beds and 16 Operation Theatres (OTs) on a 250-acre ground, will be ready in 6 months," he said while attending a COVID vaccination warriors felicitation ceremony at Bilaspur

He said that people in the state had to go to AIIMS Delhi and PGI Chandigarh for their treatment, but after six months people will be able to get treatment at Bilaspur.

He thanked the current Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National President and former Union Health Minister JP Nadda for his efforts in getting the hospital constructed.

Taking potshots at the previous Congress governments at the Centre and in State, he said, "We attained our freedom, Himachal Pradesh is celebrating its 50 years as a state, but nobody talked about building big hospitals here, let alone an AIIMS. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, he gave Himachal Pradesh its first AIIMS. During the UPA rule, the construction of AIIMS was started but it never finished. But within the last five to seven years, the Modi government has made more AIIMS than the total number of AIIMS till 2014. Also, more AIIMS are being made."

Union Minister of Health, Chemicals and Fertilizers Mansukh Mandaviya said that the AIIMS was indeed the biggest gift of the Union Government to the State. He said that the world had acknowledged the brainpower of the country. He said that out of ten scientists in NASA, almost about three scientists are Indian and Prime Minister Narendra Modi recognized the power of the country and encouraged the scientists to develop its own vaccination against corona virus.