Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda on January 21 performed a ground-breaking ceremony of 750-bed AIIMS in Kothipura near Bilaspur.

It would be set up with an outlay of Rs 1,350 crore with facility for a medical college with an intake capacity of 100 seats and a nursing college with 60 seats. Thakur said the AIIMS would prove a boon for the people of the state as they would have access to the word-class healthcare facilities near to their homes.

He said the AIIMS would be completed within a period of two years and would have a bed capacity of 750, out of which 300 beds would be for super specialty. "We have not only ensured transfer of land but also provided all possible help by way of providing additional land of 48 hectare so that the institute could start at the earliest," he said.

Union Health Minister Nadda said the AIIMS is being constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna. It would serve the dual purpose of providing super specialty healthcare, besides creating a pool of doctors and other health workers. He said the institute would also have Affordable Medicine and Reliable Implants for Treatment (AMRIT) outlets and Jan Aushadhi Kendra where medicine would be provided at highly discounted rates.

He said the Central government has sanctioned 14 AIIMS for different states and Himachal Pradesh is among them. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 3, 2017, launched three mega central projects from this town, including laying the foundation stone for AIIMS.