AIIMS clones a non-starter

Three years and four Budget assurances later, the government's prestigious project to set up six super-speciality hospitals modelled on the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi is yet to start.

Work on the project, which was to fill the gap in tertiary healthcare infrastructure and medical education in under-served states, was to have started in the 10th Plan, which concluded on March 31.

The project, however, has not crossed the preliminary step of finalisation of a consultant to prepare a blueprint.

The health ministry's first attempt in 2006 failed and a second attempt was initiated in February. As many as 29 companies, most of them consortiums of Indian and foreign partners, have reportedly bid, including the public sector Hospital Services Consultancy Corporation (India) Ltd.

The project "� called the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana "� was to establish apex healthcare institutes at Bhopal, Bhubhaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh.

The project received Planning Commission's approval for a Rs 1,000-crore outlay and was cleared by the Cabinet in 2006.

The initial bid was for all six institutes and attracted 16 domestic and overseas players. Every applicant except one failed to secure the minimum qualifying marks at the technical stage. The lone successful applicant quoted too high a price, sources said.

For the fresh bids, the ministry invited separate applications for each institute and segregated the housing component of the project which would be given to an EPC developer on a turnkey basis.

The deadline for submitting applications ended on March 19, and the ministry has started shortlisting the applicants.

Choosing the consultant is expected to take at least three or four months. Assuming no further delays, the blueprint is unlikely to be ready before mid-2008. The hospitals were expected to be functional by that time.

Many of the second-round bidders had been part of the 2006 bids. "We are part of two consortiums that have expressed interest in the project. While we have a Canadian partner in one bid, the other one has an Australian firm as our supporter," Dr Y P Bhatia of Astrol Hospital and Healthcare Consultants (P) Ltd told Business Standard.

The major difference between the two bids is that while the former looked at one technical collaborator for all projects, the current one is looking at several technical partners to look at individual projects.

The project was first announced by Jaswant Singh, the then finance minister in the previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, as part of the interim budget for 2004-05.