The six new institutions modelled on AIIMS are located in Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh and will have medical and nursing colleges, Azad said while addressing a gathering Badhsah village here after laying the foundation stone of an AIIMS Outreach OPD centre.
Azad noted that with passage of time, the prestigious AIIMS, New Delhi has become over-burdened.
In the year 2010-11 alone, more than 25 lakhs patients attended OPD at AIIMS. In fact, about 8-10 thousand people are seen by more than 50 departments at AIIMS every day.
"The government is aware of the urgent need to expand AIIMS so that it could continue to provide world class services, add to human resource capacity and also focus on cutting edge research," Azad said, adding approval has been given for two such institutions in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh also and the construction work will soon start.
The Outreach OPD has been designed to handle approximately 1,000 patients per day. It is expected to be operational in August, 2012.