Cabinet nod to new AIIMS in Deoghar, new homeopathy board

NEW DELHI: The Union cabinet on Wednesday approved a ₹1,103 crore project to set up a new All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Deoghar, Jharkhand, with a 100-seat medical college and a trauma centre.

This is one of the 20 All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) campuses being set up in the country under the ₹14,832crore Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY).

Six AIIMS campuses have already been established in Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur, and Rishikesh, under the scheme.

“...The new AIIMS ...will provide quality health care to the population and create a large pool of doctors & other health workers in the region,” the Union health minister JP Nadda tweeted.

The cabinet also approved the setting up of the National Institute of Mental Health Rehabilitation at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh with an outlay of ₹179 crore over three years.

Three joint secretary-level posts — one director and two professors —were also created for the institute, which will promote research and help the government in framing policies on mental health rehabilitation.

The institute, which will come up in a 5-acre campus over the next three years, will begin operations, for now, in rented premises and will offer 12 courses across nine departments.

Over the next five years, the government expects the number of students studying at the institute to go up to 400.

The cabinet also approved an ordinance that will replace the existing Central Council of Homeopathy (CCH) with a seven-member board of governors appointed by the government.

The board will replace existing functionaries. The move comes in the backdrop of allegations of corruption against office bearers of the CCH.

The ordinance will come into effect once President Ram Nath Kovind signs it.