A Parliamentary panel has slammed the Government for failing to make the six AIIMS-like institutes at Rishikesh, Bhubhneshwar, Bhopal, Jodhpur, Raipur and Patna set-up in the first phase, fully operational when, in fact, it should have been engaged in sorting out issues concerning setting up of 13 more such institutions across the States.
The Committee headed by Rajya Sabha member Ram Gopal Yadav said it was constrained to note that six AIIMS at Rishikesh, Bhubhneshwar, Bhopal, Jodhpur, Raipur and Patna were still not operational fully due to reasons like vacant faculty posts, inadequate and incomplete development of infrastructure.
The six AIIMS-like institutes were announced in 2006 and construction was started in 2009 under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Surakhsa Yojna (PMSSY). But still almost all of them are yet to function fully.
The panel, which submitted its report in Parliament ,also found that lack of quality teaching, non-functional blood bank and emergency and casualty services, lack of pathology, pharmacology services, etc was keeping the patients deprived of the healthcare facilities. Hence, said the panel, at a time when the Department should have been engaged in sorting out issues concerning setting up of 13 more AIIMS, it is still grappling with these basic issues of six AIIMS set up in the first phase.
“Building infrastructure without the appropriate facilities would yield no gains in healthcare facilities of the country. The Committee is, therefore, of the firm view that efforts need to be made in filling up vacant posts especially faculty posts so as to maintain standard of teaching at the six functional AIIMS outside Delhi,” the report said.
Also, the provisions of emergency services, blood bank, pathology labs need to be put in place on a priority basis. The Committee also suggested regular monitoring of the work to ensure completion of projects on time.
On analysis of the expenditure trends, the Committee expressed displeasure that there was a substantial mismatch in the financial projections leading to sub-optimum utilisation. It recommended the concerned Department to undertake a thorough analysis of the fund requirements for implementation of projects/schemes, identify bottlenecks and reassess them so as to avoid any under utilization of the allocated funds in future