New Delhi to get second campus of premier medical sciences institute

New Delhi: The national capital will get a second campus of the premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) once land is made available for this but there is no proposal to open a similar facility in the northeast, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said on Friday.

"We are looking for land either in Delhi or in (suburban) Noida. The moment this is made available, we will move to open a second campus of AIIMS to take the load off the institute," Ramadoss said during question hour in the Rajya Sabha.

"The institute is overworked and there is need to take the load off it," he added.

Responding to a supplementary from the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) S.S. Ahluwlia on the steps to improve the institute's functioning, the minister said: "This is a continuous process and we have various committees going into this."

No centre for northeast

"Unfortunately, we know what the scenario was till recently. We went through a bad patch. I accept and admit that... We will come back on track, but it will take time."

"There may have been one or two lapses but we are trying our best to plug the loopholes," Ramadoss added.

The reference was to a bitter court battle with then AIIMS director P. Venugopal who was sacked at Ramadoss' instance but reinstated in May after a six-month court battle. Venugopal subsequently retired in July.

Replying to another question, the minister, however, ruled out establishing an AIIMS-style facility in the northeastern region.

He said this already existed in the form of the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Medical Sciences in Meghalaya capital Shillong.

"The government is certainly not neglecting the northeastern region when it comes to healthcare," Ramadoss said.