'Satellite campus of AIIMS to be set up in Balasore'

Bhubaneswar: Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Saturday said a satellite campus of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will be set up in Balasore while assuring complete support from Centre towards strengthening healthcare system in the state.

“The 300-bed satellite AIIMS hospital will be established in Balasore. Construction of the boundary wall will be started soon,” Vardhan told mediapersons after a meeting with the state’s chief minister Naveen Patnaik at State Secretariat here.

Besides, the Union Health minister said to fulfill the dreams of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee the Central government is planning to make AIIMS, Bhubaneswar better than AIIMS, Delhi.

Efforts are being made to open new departments such as mental, neuroscience, cardiology, cancer, geriatric, medicine at the AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, he added.

Further, he said the Ministry has asked the Odisha Chief Minister for lands near to the AIIMS, Bhubaneswar to build guest houses for attendants of patients admitted in the hospital.

Earlier in the day, the Union Health Minister visited the AIIMS here and interacted with patients and reviewed the progress of work of the hospital.

The minister is scheduled to meet faculties and students of premiere medical institute in the afternoon.