Himanta at AIIMS site
Assam Health and Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma during his visit to the AIIMS site at Changsari near Guwahati on Sunday. Image - Twitter

Assam Health and Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday visited the AIIMS site at Changsari in Kamrup (Rural) district to evaluate the progress of work.

It may be recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Changsari near Guwahati in 2017.

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Informing about the ongoing work, Assam Minister Sarma on his Twitter handle stated on Sunday: “I visited the AIIMS site at Changsari in Kamrup district today to evaluate progress of work and adherence to timelines.”

Stating that the AIIMS coming near Guwahati would provide world-class healthcare for the people of Northeast India, Sarma tweeted: “In keeping with the vision of PM Sri Narendra Modi an AIIMS is coming up near Guwahati to provide world-class healthcare for people of Northeast.”

Earlier on October 28, 2018, Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan inspected the AIIMS site and reviewed the progress of work done till then.

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Informing this on its Twitter handle, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare stated: “Preeti Sudan, Health Secretary inspected the AIIMS Guwahati site and reviewed the progress of works, during her visit this Sunday (October 28, 2018).”

Also read: Union Health Secretary visits AIIMS site in Guwahati

Prime Minister Modi laid the foundation stone of the AIIMS by pressing a remote from the Sarusajai Stadium in Guwahati instead of conducting the ceremony at the site of the institute, 26 km away from the city.

The medical institute is set to be constructed at a cost of Rs 1,123 crores as part of the ‘Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana’, and the project is expected to be completed within the next four years.

The institute will have a hospital comprising 750 beds, a medical college for 100 MBBS students annually, a nursing college for 60 students each year and 22 super specialty departments including 16 operation theatres.

It may be mentioned that setting up of the institute at Changsari was riddled with controversy with people from Raha in Nagaon district, located 76 km east from Guwahati, demanding that the institute be constructed there.

The Middle Assam AIIMS Demand Committee had taken up agitational path like blocking of the National Highway 37 (NH 37) demanding that the medical institute be set up at Raha.