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Patna, March 16: The outpatient department (OPD) of Jai Prakash Narayan All India Institute of Medical Sciences (JPNAIIMS) is all set to miss the July deadline.
Brajesh Kumar, one of the monitoring committee members appointed by the high court, said: “No doubt that the work is going on but it is not satisfactory. But the pace of work suggests that the OPD may not be functional by July 31.”
The three-member committee visited the under-construction campus of the JPNAIIMS at Phulwarisharif today. A division bench of Justice T. Meena Kumari and Justice Vikash Jain, while hearing a PIL, had on February 5 directed the Centre to begin treatment at the OPD by July 31, 2013. “We will apprise the court about the project development on Monday (March 18) when the matter would be taken up for hearing,” said Kumar, also the petitioner’s counsel. He said the contractor had told the team that about 1,100 workers are engaged in the project to meet the deadline. “The contractor said the delay took place because of non-availability of a few maps,” Kumar added.
The committee submits its report to the court every month and a copy of its also sent to the health secretaries of both Union and state governments. Today, state health department joint secretary Sanjay Kumar, building construction department chief engineer Ravindra Kumar, Patna senior deputy collector Manoranjan Prasad and contractors’ representatives were also present during the monitoring committee visit today.
On June 29, 2011, the court had fixed the deadline for central government to make JPNAIIMS operational by October 2, 2012. Following the court’s order, the college started MMBS course on September 25, 2012, but it could not start treatment.
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