New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has taken a favourable stand on establishing an All-India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) in Kerala.
It recommended giving registration of the institute in the State. The decision was passed on by Bharati Pawar, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare to K Muralidharan, MP, on Saturday.
Pawar has urged the Kerala government to find a suitable land for the construction of the institute.
She added that the central government plans to establish AIIMS in all the states in the country in different phases and this decision to establish one in Kerala is a part of this vision. The Ministry of Finance now will have to authorise and allocate budget for this initiative.
The announcement to set up an AIIMS in Kerala was initially made in 2015 by the central government. Earlier, Kerala suggested four different localities for the institute. However, thereafter it evaded the specifics on the project even as MPs from Kerala queried about it at the Parliament.
Earlier the health ministry had stated it would give the nod once the Finance ministry gave the in-principle approval.
The All-India Institute of Medical Sciences was established in New Delhi in 1956 as an institution of national importance by an Act of Parliament. The Institute has comprehensive facilities for teaching, research and patient-care. As provided in the Act, AIIMS conducts teaching programmes in medical and para-medical courses both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and awards its own degrees.