Six new AIIMS hospitals fully functional, says govt

Out of 22 approved All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), six are already functional, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The Ministry also lauded the institutes' response to the pandemic by expanding bed capacities for treatment for moderate and severe COVID patients.

New Delhi:The Central government has approved setting up of 22 new All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) so far under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) out of which six are already fully functional, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday.

The ministry said out of the total 22 new AIIMS, six AIIMS at Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh are already fully functional and in another seven AIIMS, OPD facility and MBBS classes have started while only MBBS classes have started in five more institutes.

The ministry also said that these AIIMS have admirably responded to the challenge of the second wave by expanding bed capacities for treatment for moderate and severe COVID patients. "Starting from the second week of April 2021, more than 1,300 oxygen beds and about 530 ICU beds, dedicated for COVID treatment, have been added in these institutions and the current availability of oxygen and ICU beds available for people is about 1,900 and 900 respectively," it said.

According to the health ministry, COVID treatment facilities have been started from AIIMS at Raebareli and Gorakhpur during April-May, 2021 which has helped the State of Uttar Pradesh to proactively serve patients of remote districts like Fatehpur, Barabanki, Kaushambi, Pratapgarh, Sultanpur, Ambedkar Nagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Deoria, Ballia, Mau and Azamgarh.

Currently, there are 1,925 non-ICU oxygen beds and 908 ICU beds including ventilators are available in 12 new AIIMS.

"AIIMS Bhubaneswar has 295 non-ICU oxygen beds and 62 ICU beds including ventilator, AIIMS Bhopal has 300 non-ICU oxygen beds and 200 ICU beds including ventilator, AIIMS Jodhpur has 120 non-ICU oxygen beds and 190 ICU beds including ventilator, AIIMS Patna has 330 non-ICU oxygen beds and 60 ICU beds including ventilator, AIIMS Raipur has 406 non-ICU oxygen beds and 81 ICU beds including ventilator, AIIMS Rishikesh has non-150 ICU oxygen beds and 250 ICU beds including ventilator, AIIMS Mangalagiri has 90 non-ICU oxygen beds and 10 ICU beds including ventilators, AIIMS Nagpur has 125 non-ICU oxygen beds and 10 ICU beds including ventilator, AIIMS Raebareli 30 non-ICU oxygen beds and 20 ICU beds including ventilator, AIIMS Bathinda 45 non-ICU oxygen beds and 25 ICU beds including ventilator, AIIMS Bibinagar and AIIMS Gorakhpur only have 24 and 10 non-ICU oxygen beds respectively," the ministry said.

The ministry further said that the capacities of these new AIIMS to handle COVID cases are being reinforced by the government through allocations of additional equipment such as ventilators, oxygen concentrators, oxygen cylinders, besides other consumables such as N-95 masks, PPE kits and essential drugs which includes Favipiravir, Remdesivir and Tocilizumab.

The new regional AIIMS also delivered other critical non-COVID health services to COVID patients such as those requiring dialysis or those with serious heart ailments, pregnant women and pediatric cases.

"AIIMS Raipur alone treated a total of 9664 COVID patients from March 2021 till May 17, 2021. The institute has provided care to 362 COVID-positive women, helped 223 of them to have safe deliveries. Paediatric care was provided to 402 COVID children. 898 COVID patients with severe heart ailments availed treatment while 272 patients were aided in their dialysis session," it said.

The ministry said the country is currently witnessing cases of mucormycosis being reported from different States."The condition is generally seen in people with a weakened immune system and those with diabetes. Diabetes being a co-morbidity for COVID, the treatment of which requires use of steroids that modulates the body's immune response, the treatment for this rare infection is very complex," it said.

However, even for this condition, effective and high-quality treatment is being offered by the AIIMS at Raipur, Jodhpur, Patna, Rishikesh, Bhubaneswar and Bhopal, besides some others which are not yet fully functional, read the release.

PMSSY scheme was announced in August 2003 to address imbalances in the availability of tertiary care hospitals and to improve medical education in the country.

(ANI)