SRINAGAR: The government has said that AIIMS Jammu is currently functional with teaching, research, out-patient and in-patient services, with 34 departments, including broad and super-specialities, now operational, while the AIIMS campus at Awantipora in south Kashmir remains under construction with 70 per cent of the physical work completed.
The update was shared by Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Prataprao Jadhav in a written reply to an unstarred question in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, responding to a query by Sajjad Ahmad Kichloo on the status, staffing and timelines of the two premier medical institutions in Jammu and Kashmir.
The minister said AIIMS Jammu was established under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana and is already delivering core healthcare and academic services. However, the institute continues to face manpower shortages. Against a sanctioned strength of 183 faculty posts, only 120 positions have been filled, leaving 63 vacant. In the non-faculty category, 948 posts have been filled out of a sanctioned strength of 1,311, with 363 posts still vacant.
At AIIMS Awantipora, which is yet to become operational, the staffing situation is more acute. All 94 sanctioned faculty posts remain vacant, while only seven non-faculty positions have been filled against a sanctioned strength of 252, leaving 245 non-faculty posts vacant. The government has said that creation and filling of posts at AIIMS institutions is a continuous process and that recruitment depends on the availability of eligible and qualified doctors and health professionals, among other factors.
On timelines, the minister said the full operationalisation of both AIIMS Jammu and AIIMS Awantipora depends on multiple variables, including project execution, regulatory approvals and the pace of faculty and staff recruitment. No specific deadline was indicated for when the Awantipora institute would become functional.
In response to concerns about expanding medical education infrastructure in the Union Territory, the government said that seven new medical colleges have been approved in Jammu and Kashmir under a centrally sponsored scheme for establishing medical colleges attached to existing district or referral hospitals. These colleges are planned at Anantnag, Baramulla, Doda, Kathua, Rajouri, Udhampur and Handwara.
The total approved cost of these seven colleges is Rs 1,595 crore, with a funding pattern of 90:10 between the Centre and the Union Territory. The minister said that so far, the central share amounting to Rs 1,176.50 crore has been released.
