All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna

All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)-Patna director G.K. Singh would meet Union health secretary Luv Verma to apprise him of the sluggish pace of construction work at the health hub.

Singh would put forth his views at the review meeting of the construction work of all six new AIIMS to be held on October 14. The Union health secretary will chair the meeting to be attended by the directors of all the new AIIMS.

Singh’s decision assumes significance because during his visit to AIIMS-Patna on June 21, Union health minister Harsh Vardhan had announced that AIIMS-Patna would be handed over to the people of the state on December 25, on the occasion of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s birthday.

The hospital services of the premier health hub have not yet started fully. Vardhan, however, had said the hospital would be fully functional before December 25.

“The present pace indicates that it would take around 115 months to complete the hospital-related construction work of the project. The construction firm has caused the delay. They don’t have money to carry out the project,” said the director.

He added that this was the reason why in the last review meeting he had asked the ministry to provide a mobilisation advance of Rs 10 crore to the construction firm so that the pace of work could be expedited.

“But the ministry of health and family welfare has not taken cognisance of our demand. We would again ask the ministry either to provide the mobilisation advance to the construction firm or award the project to some other firm,” said G.K. Singh.

Singh added that in the earlier meetings, officials of the ministry of health and family welfare had, however, clearly stated that the ministry was in no mood to provide any monetary assistance to the construction firm.

They had cited that the project cost of AIIMS-Patna had increased because of delayed work, which escalated the cost.