The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Guwahati will start functioning with 150 beds from April 14 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates it, a top official of the premier medical facility said on Wednesday.

Patient care services at AIIMS, Guwahati had started with telemedicine from August last year and limited OPD for local residents began in September, Executive Director Ashok Puranik said at a press conference here.

He said 85 per cent construction work at the project site is already complete.

Most of the clinical departments are functional with the out patient department handling an average of 150 patients per day. The services include day care, pharmacy, laboratory facilities and radiological investigations, he said.

“We are taking baby steps at present with 150 beds to become functional from April 14, but within the next three or four years, the hospital will be fully functional with a capacity of 750 beds,” Puranik said.

The hospital will provide “high-quality patient care services” in various specialities and super specialities including cardiology, neurology, burns and plastic surgery, cardiothoracic and vascular surgery and interventional radiology, the official said.

AIIMS, Guwahati was established with the three-pronged objective of state-of-the-art patient care, high-quality medical education and cutting-edge research, which will not only benefit Assam, but also its neighbouring states of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur, he said.

“The institute aims to correct regional imbalances in the availability of affordable and reliable tertiary healthcare services, to augment facilities for quality medical education and providing comprehensive, quality and holistic tertiary care health services to the people of Assam and neighbouring states,” Puranik said.

It will also provide cancer care, advanced laparoscopy facilities, trauma care and “futuristic interventions like robotic surgery, organ transplantation, regenerative medicine, genetics and simulation lab”.

Regarding its academic activities, Puranik said at present, there are three batches of students, with the fourth to join in July-August this year.

The institute has 199 MBBS students, 78 faculty members, 125 nursing officers and 12 senior residents, he said, adding, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed with Maligaon Railway Hospital to facilitate clinical exposure and clinical postings for fourth and fifth-semester students.

An agreement is also likely to be signed with IIT-Guwahati with a primary focus on collaboration on artificial intelligence, robotics, low-cost equipment, cloud computing and digitalisation.

AIIMS-Guwahati was planned under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna (PMSSY).

The Union Cabinet approved its setting up at Changsari in Kamrup district at a cost of Rs 1,123 crore in May 2017. The construction work began in 2019.

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