Industry & Economy
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Budget
Six new AIIMS proposed
Our Bureau
New Delhi
,
Feb. 3
EVEN as the Interim Budget has not made any specific announcements for the healthcare sector in terms of sops to the sector, Finance Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, today reiterated that six new hospitals on the lines of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences would be set up in the country.
A hospital each would be set up in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Uttaranchal under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana. Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee had announced earlier that one medical college would be upgraded to the level of AIIMS in each of six States of Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. A provision of Rs 60 crore has been made in the interim Budget itself for both these schemes, he said.
According to Dr Naresh Trehan, Executive Director, Escorts Hospital, "The setting up of six new hospitals on the lines of AIIMS is a welcome move, so is the upgradation of six medical colleges as each State would benefit from this." Also, the earlier announcement of bringing down the duties on hospital equipment would lead to a significant drop in prices, he added.
Mr Rajesh Jain, Managing Director, Panacea Biotec said that the budget has been a truly interim one. "We were expecting some sops in the R&D sector. From 2005, when the patent regime comes into effect, the focus would be on R&D. Some aspects of this will have to be looked into in the next phase. Also, we had expected some announcements related to drugs for TB and HIV. These have not been addressed," he added.
However, the Health Ministry's proposal of establishing six new AIIMS-like hospitals has received clearance from the Planning Commission. The total cost of the project has been estimated at Rs 4,158 crore. During the Tenth Plan period the requirement would be to the tune of Rs 2,541 crore.
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