Chorus for converting PIMS to AIIMS-II grows

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 17

After Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh met Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan yesterday and offered the building of the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) for setting up a second AIIMS in the state, chorus for the demand has grown locally.

Former BJP state president and former minister Manoranjan Kalia in a statement today welcomed the proposal given by the Chief Minister to the Central Government of setting up of another branch of AIIMS in Jalandhar or Ludhiana.

Kalia too has appealed to Dr Harsh Vardhan to consider the proposal of opening up of another branch of AIIMS at Jalandhar, which will lessen the burden on the PGI, Chandigarh, by catering to areas of Jalandhar, Amritsar, Pathankot and Chamba in HP as patients of these areas have to rush to the PGI for treatment.

He recalled his role in this direction as the Medical Education and Research Minister in 2001.

“The foundation of the building of PIMS was laid on November 4, 2001, by the then Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. I had accompanied him then as the department minister. On March 27, 2005, I wrote a letter to the then Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh suggesting conversion of PIMS into a branch of AIIMS by approaching the then UPA government,” he said.

He said when the Akali-BJP alliance returned to power in 2007 and he became the leader of the BJP legislative group and Local Bodies Minister, he took up the matter of setting up of a branch of AIIMS at PIMS even then with Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the then Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, at the time of approval of the annual plan 2007-2008. Ahluwalia though jotted down the issue but could not be materialised during the UPA government. The matter relates to the meeting when he accompanied the then Chief Minister Badal along with then Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal for the approval of the annual plan 2007-2008.

Today, the Jalandhar Welfare Society also gave a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner regarding the same.

“We already have 55 acres of land, a 500-bedded hospital and a footfall of 3,000 outpatients daily at PIMS, ideal for its upgrade as AIIMS-II. A large number of accidents occur on national highways connecting Jalandhar and at times, patients have to be shifted to the PGI, Chandigarh, or DMC, Ludhiana, resulting in higher fatalities due delay in medical assistance. A proper institution in the city can help save lives,” Surinder Saini, secretary of the Jalandhar Welfare Society has mentioned in his note.

Society gives memo to DC

The Jalandhar Welfare Society gave a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner for converting PIMS into a second AIIMS. “We already have 55 acres of land, a 500-bedded hospital and a footfall of 3,000 outpatients daily at PIMS, ideal for its upgrade as AIIMS-II. A large number of accidents occur on national highways connecting Jalandhar and at times, patients have to be shifted to the PGI, Chandigarh, or DMC, Ludhiana, resulting in higher fatalities due delay in medical assistance. A proper institution in the city can help save lives,” Surinder Saini, secretary of  the society has mentioned in his note.