ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND
FAMILY WELFARE
(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)
(a): Cabinet has recently approved setting up of AIIMS, which were announced in Budget speech of 2014-15 and 2015-16, at Mangalagiri (Andhra Pradesh), Kalyani (West Bengal), Nagpur (Maharashtra), Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh), Bathinda (Punjab) and Guwahati (Assam). Details are given in Annexure-I.
(d): AIIMS set up at six places viz. Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh, approved under 1st Phase of PMSSY scheme, are functioning at varying capacity.
There has been some delay in construction of AIIMS like institutions at Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Jodhpur, Raipur, Rishikesh and Rae Bareli. The delay can mainly be attributed to site-specific issues and unforeseen circumstances. These mainly relate to delays in supply of drawings by Design DPR Consultants (DDPRC), non-performance and abandonment by Project Consultants (PCs) during execution of project, poor performance by construction contractors, delay in making availability of land by the State Government and inadequate bid responses in some cases.
The deficiency of faculty and doctors has also created an impediment in achieving full functionality of AIIMS. These institutes have been designated as Institutes of National Importance (INIs) and need to recruit finest quality of faculty and doctors which have not been available in sufficient numbers inspite of several rounds of recruitment exercises. However, with recently concluded recruitment exercises of the first six AIIMS, the overall faculty strength is expected to reach 45% of sanctioned strength.
To address the above issues w.r.t six AIIMS, the following steps have been taken :
i. AIIMS have been authorized to take required technical inputs from the nearby RECs/NITs/IITs in case the DDPRCs do not respond.
ii. The Ministry had assigned the job of Project Consultant (PC) for speeding up the the balance construction work to its two PSUs, viz. M/s HSCC and M/s HLL.
iii. The procedure for procurement of medical equipments has been simplified for faster procurement.
iv. To facilitate expeditious filling of Faculty post upper age limit for direct recruitment against the posts of Professor and Additional Professor in the six AIIMS has been raised from present 50 years to 58 years. Contractual appointment of faculty is also permitted as a stop gap arrangement. The upper age limit for the contractual appointment of the faculty has been raised to 70 years which will enable tapping of large pool of retired faculty from AIIMS, Delhi, PGI, Chandigarh and other Institutes of National Importance (INIs), as well as from various Government Medical Colleges. Provisions for taking faculty on deputation basis in six new AIIMS have been made.
v. Review meetings are being held at highest level and all stakeholders involved have been instructed to complete the balance work and manpower deployment for functioning of these Institutes in full capacity.
(e): Public Health and Hospitals being a State subject, the primary responsibility of strengthening primary health care lies with respective State Governments. Under the National Health Mission support is being provided to States/UTs to strengthen their healthcare systems based on requirements posed by the States in their Programme Implementation Plans. The recently approval National Health Policy, 2017 advocates allocating major proportion (upto two-thirds or more) of resources to primary care. To provide comprehensive primary care, the Government has announced transforming 1.5 lakh Sub Health centres to Health and Wellness centres in Budget 2017-18. Accordingly, the Government is strengthening Sub health centres/Primary Health Centres as Health and Wellness centres (HWCs) for provision of comprehensive primary care that includes preventive, promotive care and a comprehensive package of primary care services that include Non Communicable Diseases,, Ophthalmology, Ear Nose Throat (ENT), Dental, Mental, Geriatric care, and emergency & trauma services along with an effective referral mechanism for continuum of care in addition to existing free Reproductive Maternal Neonatal, Child Health + Adolescent services and communicable diseases such as free treatment for TB, Malaria, and Leprosy etc. In a step towards provision of comprehensive primary care, the Government has initiated universal screening for common NCDs such as Diabetes, Hypertension and three common cancers – breast, cervix and oral at the sub-centre/Primary Health Centre. 4000 Sub-Centres/Primary Health Centres are targeted to be upgraded to HWCs by Mar 2018 and so far approvals have been given for 3871 Health and Wellness Centres. The State wise approvals is attached at Annexure-II.
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