Madurai AIIMS project must start soon: Chamber

MADURAI: The much awaited All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Hospital project, which’s aimed at imparting quality medical education to numerous aspirants from all over India, should take off as expected by all.

Initially, the total cost of the Madurai — Thoppur AIIMS Hospital project was estimated at Rs 1,264 crore. Due to abnormal delay in execution, the project cost rose to Rs 1,978 crore, N Jegatheesan, president, Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Madurai said on Saturday.

There were delays in commencement of the project in Madurai that was announced in 2015, followed by identification of the site and Cabinet approval in 2018 and finally the foundation stone was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on January 27 in 2019.

The Chamber is continuously insisting for the early execution of the project at Thoppur in Madurai as it’s necessary for providing quality tertiary healthcare to the people belonging to the southern districts of Tamil Nadu.

Madurai is the gateway for the 13 southern and south-central districts including Madurai, Dindigul, Theni, Sivagangai, Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Kanyakumari, Karur, Trichy, Thanjavur and Pudukottai with a population of 2.40 crore being 30% of the total population of the state. “Therefore, a large number of people would benefit from availing top class medical treatment facilities once the AIIMS hospital in Madurai came into existence,” Jegatheesan said.

It was announced that Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) allocated Rs 1,500 crore for construction of AIIMS Hospital at Thoppur, Madurai. The remaining amount of total cost of the project is to be given by the Centre.

Citing these, the Chamber has sought both the governments to take immediate steps to commence construction work of the project without any further delay. Already, an executive committee meeting of AIIMS was held in June, 2021, he recalled.