MP S Venkatesan flays Centre for delaying AIIMS work

MADURAI: Condemning the Central government for the delay in starting the work on the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Thoppur, Madurai MP S Venkatesan said there has been no explanation from the Secretary to the Union Health Ministry on the change in project cost from Rs 1,200 crore to Rs 2,000 crore.

The MP said that though the Centre promised to sign the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) by March, the Union Health Ministry has not yet approved the hike in project cost. 

Claiming that the AIADMK government has set a record by taking two years just to surrender the pieces of land zeroed in on for the construction to the Central government, Venkatesan pointed out that other States that were allotted AIIMS during the same time have started admitting students.

“The State government should have established a 300-bed facility to expedite the medical admission process. Even after so many representations were made seeking the appointment of a special officer to monitor the Madurai AIIMS project, no action has been taken so far,” he said.

Referring to the recent meeting of Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, “There was no discussion on Madurai AIIMS with the PM, Union Health Ministry or the Finance Ministry.”