Efforts are being made on a war footing to start the academic session of Bhubaneswar AIIMS from September 15, Union Health Secretary P K Pradhan said during a visit here.
While construction of the building is nearing completion, faculties for the prestigious institute have already been selected and they are likely to join work next month, he said.
The number of seats for the MBBS course would be 50 this year, Pradhan said adding that the number of seats would be increased to 150 next year.
Pradhan's statement came barely a week after Union Health Minister Gulam Nabi Azad assured Odisha government that the academic session of Bhubaneswar AIIMS would begin by the end of September, this year.
Dr Ashok Mohapatra, now head of Neurosurgery department of AIIMS, New Delhi, has been appointed as the Director of AIIMS, Bhubaneswar. Prof Mohapatra has already made it clear that his aim is to make Bhubaneswar AIIMS a world class institute and take it to the level of Delhi AIIMS.
According to Odisha Health Minister Prasanna Acharya, the undergraduate medical students of AIIMS will do their practical at the Capital hospital in Bhubanewar for the time being.