Chandigarh needs dedicated PGI, demands MP Manish Tewari

Chandigarh MP and former Union Minister Manish Tewari has demanded the establishment of a dedicated Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) exclusively for Chandigarh.

Presently, North India’s premier health institute, which was founded in 1961 with the concurrence of the Planning Commission and commenced operations in 1962 before it was formally inaugurated on July 7, 1963, by the then Prime Minister Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, caters to the entire Northern region and other far off places as well.

“The time has come to have a dedicated PGI for Chandigarh alone,” said Tewari, while expressing serious concern over the critical equipment worth crores lying idle due to incomplete infrastructure work.

He was responding to the Parliament on Friday.

The senior Congress parliamentarian said that in the recent meeting of the institute, Director Dr Vivek Lal had informed that land had finally been allotted in Sarangpur by the Chandigarh Administration for the extension of PGIMER.

“I would like to urge the Health Minister to make Sarangpur Centre a dedicated facility for the people of Chandigarh or consider setting up a new PGIMER specifically for the city,” Tewari asserted, while stating that he would also raise this issue with Union Health Minister JP Nadda.

Tewari also cited gaps in PGIMER’s digital health infrastructure. “I have seen the evolution of PGIMER since childhood. My mother, Dr Amrit Tewari, headed the Oral Health Science Centre for almost three decades and also served as Dean. Over time, I have seen the footfall has grown enormously as it caters to Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir besides Chandigarh,” he said.

Replying to his unstarred question on digital health infrastructure at PGIMER, the Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Prataprao Jadhav gave details of the medical equipment procured for Mother and Child Care Centre and other departments of the institute since 2020.

“93 per cent of the works of the Mother and Child Care Centre have been completed. The construction of the Centre has been delayed due to revision in the building plan to meet site and user requirement, onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and shifting of service block outside the Centre in view of fire safety norms,” the government maintained.

The Minister informed that to further strengthen PGIMER’s infrastructure, approval has been granted for the construction of an Advanced Neurosciences Centre and a Critical Care Block under the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM).

“Approval has also been accorded for establishment of Satellite Centre in Una in Himachal Pradesh and Ferozepur in Punjab,” Jadhav disclosed, while adding that the government also approved an upgrade from the existing Hospital Information System (HIS) 1.0 to HIS 2.0 for strengthening digital infrastructure at PGIMER.