Not a single AIIMS built in the Modi Raj is fully functional, amid big official claims

Not a single AIIMS built in the Modi Raj is fully functional, amid big official claims

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Last March 13, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed in Karnataka that the number of institutes like AIIMS under his government has tripled compared to before. Not one of the AIIMS started in different states since I came is fully functional. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, then Health Minister JP Nadda, Governor and Chief Minister and other leaders at the foundation stone laying ceremony of AIIMS in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh in October 2017. (Photo courtesy: PIB) New Delhi: On March 13, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed in Karnataka’s Mandya district that the number of institutes like AIIMS in his government has tripled as compared to earlier. The next day, the country’s health minister Min Sukh Mandaviya wrote in a tweet showing ‘Modi Zamana’ that the number of AIIMS in the country has increased from seven to 22. The talk of increasing the number of hospitals like AIIMS started only after the Modi government came to power in 2014, though none of these AIIMS is fully ‘functional’ till date. This information has been given by the health minister himself in the parliament in the current budget session. At least 16 institutes like AIIMS were envisaged since 2014 under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Sarksha Yojana (PMSSY). According to Mandaviya’s reply in the Lok Sabha on 3 February 2023, 16 AIIMS-like institutions are in ‘various stages of operationalisation’ and only limited Out-Patient Department (OPD) and In-Patient Department (IPD) services are available. . Some of these 16 AIIMS-like institutions were announced in 2014 itself, for example, AIIMS Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh), AIIMS Mangalagiri (Andhra Pradesh), AIIMS Nagpur (Maharashtra) and AIIMS Kalyani (West Bengal). However, all these institutions are providing only limited OPD and IPD services and are not included in the ‘fully functional’ list. Only six AIIMS—Bhopal, Patna, Raipur, Rishikesh, Bhubaneswar and Jodhpurhi—set up during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government are fully functional. The government has not defined what is meant by the availability of ‘limited OPD and IPD services’, although Srinath Reddy, Emeritus Professor of the Public Health Foundation of india, says that a fully functioning OPD means all from the department, while a select few will be able to counsel patients. Limited IPD services may include very few basic services – perhaps the same as those in district-level hospitals or even less. Reddy said, they should report the number of patients actually seen by them so that it is clear what the situation is. AIIMS Guwahati (Assam) had its foundation stone laid by Narendra Modi in 2017 and recently celebrated its third Institute Day. According to its website, there is no OPD or IPD service being provided here. In fact, the website says that the institute does not have a single medical department running. In December last year, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma was quoted in media reports as saying that the institute would be formally inaugurated in 2023. Although the establishment and operation of these institutions is the responsibility of the central government, the health minister said in his reply that the state governments also have a limited role. In response, it was said, ‘The ministry keeps a close eye on the progress of new AIIMS projects. Completion of the work depends on various factors including land transfer by the state government, regulatory approvals and site issues. Institutes like AIIMS are not made of bricks and stones, says T Sundararaman, former head of the National Health System Resource Center of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. There should also be human resources (faculty members, resident doctors and nurses) to make it fully functional. He further said that besides shortage of faculty, many other infrastructure related issues can affect the functioning of these institutions. Otherwise, it shouldn’t take more than about five years to function to its full potential, he added. Where are the human resources? Both Reddy and Sundarraman have been citing shortage of faculty members as the reason for not starting AIIMS. Their fear is reflected in the data. It is noteworthy that according to the reply given by Bharti Parveen Pawar, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare in the Rajya Sabha on 20 December 2022, many of these 16 institutions have half or more of the approved number of faculty. There is a shortage of members. AIIMS, Rajkot has only 40 faculty members against the sanctioned strength of 183. Even the Vajpayee government’s six AIIMS, which were described as fully functional in Mandaviya’s response, are in a poor condition in terms of faculty. For example, according to Pawar’s reply, AIIMS in Patna has 162 faculty posts filled against the sanctioned strength of 305 regular members. When it comes to non-faculty members (including resident doctors, nurses and paramedical staff), the situation gets worse. The sanctioned number of such posts in AIIMS Guwahati is 1026, but only 95 posts have been filled. AIIMS Mangalagiri has filled 474 posts as against 1054. Responding to why there is acute shortage of human resources in these important institutions, Pawar said in the Rajya Sabha on March 22, 2022, ‘Since the stature of these institutions of national importance, high standards of selection have to be maintained. Hence not all the advertised posts could be filled. Similarly, in another reply in the Rajya Sabha on 29 March 2022, Pawar admitted that in order to retain more faculty, some posts of Additional and Associate Professors have been ‘downgraded’ to Assistant Professors (so less experienced). He said that the government was taking several steps, including temporary transfer of faculty members from one department to another department ‘on a voluntary basis’ and taking faculty members from other government medical colleges on deputation. Includes filling up of AIIMS posts. However, this is not the only problem. The government’s trend of appointing doctors in AIIMS on contract basis is also responsible for this problem. Even then, there are many advertisements in this recruitment format in these institutes, even though a parliamentary committee report in 2015 strongly recommended against it citing AIIMS, Delhi as an example. Half-finished work, half-finished results! Amid all these problems, most of these 22 AIIMS are running MBBS courses. (See above picture) Thus, an MBBS course can be run only if a college has departments of Anatomy, Biochemistry and Physiology while imparting basic training in Surgery, Gynecology and Maternity. There are – although it will not be according to the instructions. Running an MBBS course in an underdeveloped medical college is not only bad news for the patients but also does no good for the students. And this is the reason why many seats remain vacant for these courses in these premier institutes, says Reddy. The matter then comes to the same point – why these institutions were conceived – that too one in each state? So that these facilities can be provided in metros and other cities for better health facilities. At the grassroots level, infrastructure needs to be strengthened to achieve this goal, says Reddy [لازمی رہنما خطوط کے مطابق] And provision of basic specialists in district hospitals and Community Health Centers (CHCs) is essential, which still has a long way to go. It is noteworthy that the recently released Rural Health Statistics, 2022 indicated that there is an 80% shortage of the four core specialists required in CHCs across the country. (Click here to read this report in English.) Related

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