Centre Plans AIIMS Like Institute In Every State, Except In ‘Special’ Telangana!!

The centre thinks Telangana is the only state in India that doesn’t require an AIIMS like institution! While the Centre granted AIIMS-like institutes to the 4 States of Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, AIIMS-like institutions have already been established in the 6 states of Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Bihar, Chatisgarh and Uttarakhand.  The union health ministry  announced it has written to all remaining States, barring the sparsely populated north-eastern states, to identify lands for setting up AIIMS. The catch is that the centre has written to the 11 States Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Punjab and not for Telangana. In effect, Telangana is the only State the Centre has no plans to grant and AIIMS to.

So what is that which made Telangana specially qualified or disqualified for this special treatment?  Chevella MP Konda Vishweshwar Reddy asked the question in as many words in the Lok Sabha and curiously the union health minister Dr Harshvardhan didn’t say it’s a lapse or anything. He said AIIMS have been granted to States with inadequate medical infrastructure, implying Telangana doesn’t fit the case but while all the remaining States in India do!! He however ended up saying he will ‘review’ Telangana situation again. The minister was given a representation by Telangana MPs last week with full facts and figures on the poor condition of medical seats and facilities in the newborn state and requested his support.

In fact the Telangana MP stated Telangana’s ration of medical seat to that of it’s population is 1:60,000 while AP’s same ratio is 1:30,000 and asked despite having only half the medical seats, why would Centre qualify AP, but not Telangana. Here is the video of the question and the response (The MP though mistakenly swapped the numbers while hurrying his supplementary question).