Rural people will get affordable treatment: Doctors

The decision on the site for the facility comes three years after an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) was announced for Tamil Nadu.

Stating that it would help fulfil the long-felt need for an institute of medical excellence in south Tamil Nadu, Dr S Gurushankar, chairman, Meenakshi Mission Hospital, Madurai, said, “Once completed, the new AIIMS will be a big boost to healthcare infrastructure in that region. It will help correct regional imbalances in the availability of affordable and high-quality healthcare and medical education. Both patients and medical students will benefit.”

“The institute should be equipped with adequate infrastructure in terms of doctors and medical equipment. Also, special attention should be given to the setting up of super-specialties like cardiology, neurology, gastroenterology, and pulmonology. This will enable patients from the region to avail advanced medical care nearer their homes and will not have to travel to big cities,” he added.

As the newly-announced AIIMS in other parts of the country have faced delays in completion and unfulfilled vacancies, he said that proper planning and execution are important.

“Even though the State had proposed five locations, namely, Pudukottai town in Pudukottai district, Thoppur in Madurai, Perundurai in Erode, Sengipatti in Thanjavur and Chengalpattu in Kancheepuram, Madurai and Sengipatti were the ultimate contenders. Chennai anyway has a super speciality, so it was not even proposed. Perundurai proved to be around one-and-a-half hours journey from the airport. Pudukottai and Chengalpattu too had some disadvantages on various counts,” said a senior health official.

By its proximity, the Thoppur site will be convenient for both doctors and patients. “Some of the other AIIMS that had come up, are not functioning as well the AIIMS in Delhi as they are far from the cities. It is important to ensure that the institution is situated in such a location where doctors and nurses will choose to work, as well,” he opined.

Stating that it would prove to be a milestone, Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said, “The institute will be coming up on a 200-acre land at a cost of Rs 1,500 crore. The hospital will have 750 beds. This is definitely a milestone in our health sector, where the state has the largest number of medical colleges.”