OPD at AIIMS Jammu to function within fortnight: Health minister Nadda

Jammu, Jul 7 (PTI) The out-patient department (OPD) services will start at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Jammu along with other facilities within a fortnight, Union Health Minister J P Nadda said on Sunday.

Accompanied by Union minister Jitendra Singh, Nadda inspected the Vijaypur campus of the AIIMS and reviewed its facilities and infrastructure, expressing hope that no patient of Jammu and Kashmir and adjoining areas of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh will have to go to PGI Chandigarh or Delhi for treatment anymore.

“This is my first visit to AIIMS Vijaypur after Prime Minister Narendra Modi assigned me to the health ministry. I inspected the facilities and was given a presentation. I tried to know how AIIMS is progressing and I want to congratulate the people of Jammu and Kashmir, especially Jammu for being one of the best health institutions having facilities, infrastructure, equipment, appliances and logistics at par with world standards,” the health minister told reporters.

Nadda, who is also BJP national president, said given the inspection and discussion with the hospital authorities, the OPD services along with other facilities will start within a fortnight.

“The faculty recruitment is going on at a very fast pace and our attempt is to provide the best faculty. Some best doctors and professors have already joined,” he said, adding a hospital like AIIMS requires at least a decade to grow to its full potential.

Seeking cooperation of the people, he said the AIIMS Vijaypur is a gift of the prime minister to the people of Jammu.

He said Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the AIIMS, Jammu in February this year and presently four batches of medical students are getting education at the institute.

“The first batch started with 50 students and the second and third with 62 students each, while the fourth batch comprises 100 students,” he said.

Earlier, addressing a gathering including students, Nadda said with the operationalisation of the AIIMS Jammu, no patient of Jammu and Kashmir and adjoining Punjab and Himachal will need to go to PGI Chandigarh or Delhi for treatment.

The patients will now be treated in this institute, he said, asking the doctors to ensure that the benefits of the government schemes like Ayushman Bharat reaches to the common citizens.

He said the government is also planning to digitalize the health records in the country and “we are moving in that direction”.

Nadda said the people of the country have a lot of “expectations and aspirations from all of us and we have to fulfil all these to their satisfaction”.