Ranchi, Sept. 9: The Union ministry of health and family welfare today sent a high-level team to Devipur village, located 14km away from Deoghar city, to inspect whether a proposed site was suitable to set up a satellite wing of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
Amid protests from 30 villagers on the site, who said they gave land to the government nine years ago but wanted compensation according to new rates, the high-level central team this morning did a feasibility study related to accessibility to the venue and existing infrastructure at Deoghar.
Comprising four members from Delhi and one from Chandigarh, the team had AIIMS medical superintendent Dr D.K. Sharma, Central Design Bureau for Medical and Health Buildings chief architect Rajeev Kanaujia, Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana joint secretary and director Sunil Sharma and Sudeep Srivastava, respectively, and the superintending hospital engineer of the department of hospital engineering and planning, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, P.S. Saini.
The team, which arrived at Ranchi last evening and reached Deoghar by road last night, inspected the site between 7am and 9.30am, toured the town afterwards to note its schools, colleges, hotels, entertainment and shopping hubs, residential localities and medical facilities, and left for Patna by train from Jasidih, the nearest station around 5km from the temple town.
Deoghar DC Arava Rajkamal, civil surgeon Dr Shiv Chandra Jha and health department officials were with them.
The central team did not comment on its findings. "It is not right to comment now," Kanaujia said.
It is known that the state government is keen on Santhal Pargana having AIIMS as a showpiece healthcare facility for the tribal belt. Last month, when the Centre said yes to an AIIMS in Jharkhand and asked the state to give options, the state proposed Devipur and earmarked 278 acres for the proposed facility. Last year too, the state suggested Devipur when the health ministry first raised the matter.
Jharkhand's medical fraternity is opposed to Deoghar as the site of AIIMS. It wants state capital Ranchi, accessible by air, road and rail, as the site for the prestigious project.
