Srinagar, Aug 01 (KNO): The Government of India (GoI) has said that two All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) projects have been approved in Jammu and Kashmir, one each in Jammu’s Vijaypur and Kashmir’s Awantipora, with only the former currently functional.
According to a written reply in the Lok Sabha by the Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Prataprao Jadhav, accessed by the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), AIIMS Vijaypur in Jammu was approved on January 10, 2019, and has become operational. It currently has 32 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds and one ventilator ambulance.
The second AIIMS in the region, located in Awantipora, Kashmir, was sanctioned on the same date, January 10, 2019, but is still under construction. No ICU beds or ambulance facilities are yet available at this site, as per the Ministry’s response.
Both AIIMS projects in Jammu and Kashmir fall under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY). These institutions are being developed to enhance the availability of tertiary-level healthcare services and to promote medical education and research across the country.
As of now, 22 AIIMS projects have been approved across India, of which several are still under various stages of development. Each functional AIIMS is equipped with ICU beds and ambulances, although the number varies by location—(KNO)