New Delhi, Nov 17: Stressing the urgency to decongest the nation’s premier institute, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday announced a reward of Rs 10 crore to contractors who are able to complete the six AIIMS-like institutions within the stipulated two years.
“There is an urgent need to decongest and lessen the pressure on AIIMS. We have set a deadline of two years. If the contractors are able to finish the work before that, they would be rewarded up to Rs 10 crore.” said Azad while speaking at the 37th convocation of AIIMS.
The Health Minister also spoke about the setting up of 270 nursing and midwifery schools to augment the availability of trained nurses by 22,000 annually.
A total of 381 degrees across various disciplines were awarded during the convocation. A total of 54 medals and book prizes were also awarded to meritorious and outstanding students.
President Pratibha Patil asked young doctors to spend some time in rural areas too. “I urge young doctors of the country to devote some years of their professional lives to working in rural areas by responding positively to the call of the government to take up rural postings.
We hope AIIMS to create an extraordinary knowledge base for innovation, even as it attends to high patient load who come from far-flung villages,” she said. She said that the use of telemedicine must be encouraged as it was found to be one of the most cost-effective ways of rendering service to a large number of patients.
–Agencies