The upcoming AIIMS campus at Sijhua near Bhubaneswar. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, July 1: The state is all set to have its own All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), a premier medical college and hospital, soon.

Work on the campus of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose All India Institute of Medical Sciences, as it would be known, is going apace. “The classes will begin by September 30 and the hospital will be operational from 2013,” said health secretary Pradipta Mohapatra.

The project, for which former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee laid the foundation at Sijhua on the outskirts of the capital city on July 15, 2003, is coming up over 100 acres. Official sources said the area of the medical college and hospital would be 1.46 lakh square metres with the hospital taking up 1.10 lakh square metres.

Of the 100 acres required, the state government has so far handed over 92 acres to the AIIMS authorities. The rest of the land, currently embroiled in litigation, is expected to be acquired with the intervention of Orissa High Court.

“We are hopeful of handing over the remaining land for the project with the high court’s permission. We are seeking the advocate-general’s opinion,” said Mohapatra.

The Centre has allotted Rs 820.49 crore for the 978-bed hospital with 15 super specialty and 18 specialty wards. The work is going on in full swing to complete at least one block on the campus to accommodate the 50 students expected to take admission during this academic year which will commence in August.

“We are trying to ensure that at least one block is ready by August and students can stay here,” said engineer in charge of the project Ravi Ranjan.

Construction is going on for 10 blocks to accommodate students, faculty, nursing and paramedical staff.

Sources said that in the unlikely event of the campus not ready in time, the state government would try to accommodate the students in a hostel elsewhere. “We are approaching College of Engineering and Technology to allow us the use one of their blocks, which is lying vacant. There should be no problem accommodating 50 students in such an eventuality though we are hoping to complete the project in time,” said the health secretary.

Last week, the state government briefed Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on the progress of construction on the AIIMS campus. “Azad has also assured us that the classes would begin in September,” said a senior state government official.

Azad had reviewed the progress after visiting the site during his visit to the state in the first week of May. The officials said since the laboratory facilities might not be in place by September, the government had declared Capital Hospital as the referral hospital for the AIIMS, so that the students could carry out their experiments.

With the project work almost in the final stages, the area, which once looked desolate, is humming with life and land prices are skyrocketing. While several apartments are coming up close to the campus, a mini market is already doing good business.