Gulam Nabi Azad inaugurated the Medical College & OPD at AIIMS Jodhpur

Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Gulam Nabi Azad has inaugurated the medical college and OPD services at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Jodhpur.

Azad, in his inaugural address, termed the occasion as historic and said that this institute will be fully functional by February or March next year and will have a hospital with 1000 bed capacity.

"Cancer and heart surgeries will also be available here soon at an affordable cost," he said.

AIIMS, Jodhpur is one of the six new AIIMS established by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna (PMSSY).

Apart from Jodhpur, the other new AIIMS are coming up at Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Union Cultural minister Chandresh Kumari Katoch were also present on the occasion. Gehlot, in his address, termed the coming up of AIIMS as a landmark in the medical history of the state.

Not only the patients from Rajasthan, but those from surrounding states will also be benefited by this institute, Gehlot said.

"It is indeed a proud moment that the second AIIMS has come up after 55 years and that too in Jodhpur," he said, and claimed that it will be better equipped than AIIMS, New Delhi, Gehlot said.

The trial OPD was commissioned here on July 27 in 16 departments, and Azad, while inaugurating it, had announced to formally inaugurate it after the completion of OPD block. Soon, the AIIMS administration will also commission a 200-beded hospital here and basic diagnostic tests will be introduced here in next few days.

The maiden academic session of AIIMS, Jodhpur had commenced in 2012 with an intake of 50 students, which rose to 100 in the session of 2013. Of the six new AIIMS, Jodhpur is the first one to start academic session, OPD and now the hospital.

PTI