Centre approves Rs142cr for IGIMS development
2 min readPatna: The central government has approved Rs142.21 crore for Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences ( IGIMS ) in Patna under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) for developing it as the state-of-the-art medical centre in Bihar.It is for the first time that the Centre has allotted funds to IGIMS under the ambitious scheme aimed at providing best medical facilities to the people at government hospitals at low cost across the country.IGIMS director Dr NR Biswas told TOI that a letter to this effect was received on Friday.
“The institute had been trying to seek funds from the central government for last three years and we succeeded with Mangal Pandey as the state health minister,” he said.IGIMS public relations officer Perwez Ahmed Khan said Rs24.75 crore of the total allocated funds is for development of cardiac emergency facility and upgrading the present cardiac invasive and non-invasive care centre.
“Rs111.55 crore is for the project to develop and upgrade the regional institute of ophthalmology (RIO), while Rs5.91 crore is for upgrading the dialysis unit at IGIMS,” Khan said.The central government has asked IGIMS to send proposals along with cost estimates for purchasing and installing modern equipment in the field of medical science along with developing and upgrading existing medical facilities, especially in cardiology, nephrology and ophthalmology departments.The proposals for the projects sent by IGIMS would be scrutinized by the Union ministry of health and family welfare before releasing the funds.Sources said the approved amount is only 60% of the aid which IGIMS would receive under the PMSSY.
The remaining 40% would be contributed by the state government.IGIMS has recently started several facilities, including kidney, eye, advanced cornea transplantation among others, which are not available anywhere else, including top private hospitals, in Bihar.
IGIMS also houses 14 superspeciality departments not available anywhere else in Bihar.”IGIMS has also received Rs35 crore from central government and Rs8 crore from state government recently against Rs130 crore sanctioned for a cancer centre,” Khan said.He said IGIMS was established with the aim to provide medical facilities to people of northeastern state, Nepal and neighbouring states besides Bihar.
Courtesy: TOI
