AIIMS satellite centre at Balasore

BHUBANESWAR:After nearly five years of announcement and controversy over selection of site, a satellite centre of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar will finally come up at Balasore.

Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda and Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan are slated to lay foundation stone for the much-awaited project on Saturday.
In 2013, the UPA-II Government had announced the satellite centre and sought 25 acres of land in close proximity of Balasore town. In July 2014, former Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan during a visit to Bhubaneswar had informed that the satellite campus having facilities for 300 beds will be set up at a cost of `300 crore.

Accordingly, the State Government had handed over 24.91 acres of land, 19.91 acres for satellite centre and five acres for housing complex, after a five-member team headed by the then AIIMS director found Balasore suitable for the facility. In March 2016, Nadda during his visit to AIIMS-Bhubaneswar had hinted at scrapping the satellite centre and developing a super-specialty hospital there.

At a review meeting, he had indicated opening of the satellite centre within 10 km radius of Bhubaneswar. The centre, if set up at Balasore, nearly 200 km away from the original campus, might not be able to serve the purpose, he had said. The decision was apparently changed following sharp reactions from locals. Lok Sabha Member Rabindra Kumar Jena too raised the issue in Parliament and took up the matter with Union Health Minister urging him to consider the demand.