Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Jammu, today. The Prime Minister also inaugurated, launched and laid the foundation stone of various other development works in the region and interacted with beneficiaries of Central schemes.
Manoj Sinha, Lieutenant Governor, Jammu & Kashmir; Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions of India; and Jugal Kishore Sharma, Member of Parliament from Jammu were present on the occasion.
Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister said, “the number of Medical Colleges in J&K has increased from 4 to 12 in the last 10 years. Similarly, in the same time period, MBBS seats in J&K has more than doubled from 500 to 1300.” Highlighting that “there were no PG medical seats in J&K before 2014”, he said that “today there are 650 PG medical seats in the Union Territory”.
35 new nursing and paramedic colleges are also coming up in the region which will lead to a considerable increase in nursing seats as well, he further stated. On inaugurating AIIMS Jammu, the Prime Minister said, “the Union Government has added 15 new AIIMS in the last 10 years, including two in J&K alone.” He said that “after the commissioning of AIIMS Jammu, people of Jammu will no longer have to leave for Delhi to avail specialized medical treatment, which will help them save valuable time and resources.”
Modi also highlighted the rapid speed of transformation of infrastructure in all the sectors of the country. He reiterated his vision of India to become Viksit Bharat by 2047 and appealed to the people to work towards that vision. He said that a Viksit Jammu & Kashmir is a pre-requisite to Viksit Bharat and the various developmental and upliftment projects of the Central Government in J&K are aimed at fulfilling that vision into reality.
Meanwhile, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare highlighted the commitment of the Union Government for AIIMS Jammu whose foundation stone laying to inauguration took only 5 years.
Moreover, Manoj Sinha thanked the Union Government for fulfilling many long-cherished aspirations of the people of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) be it in bringing development and benefits of central schemes to marginalized sections or in provisioning two AIIMS to the region.
He stated that “the last 5 years have witnessed a transformation in J&K especially in improving the health, education, security and infrastructure landscape of the region which is evident in the decline of terrorism by 75% and growth of investment and new opportunities”. He also pointed out that “under the leadership of Shri Narendra Modi, J&K has become the only region in India having AIIMS, IIT, IIM and other institutions of eminence”.
Dr Jitendra Singh highlighted the importance that the government has given towards enhancing infrastructure development in the country and especially in J&K. He stated that many of these development projects were very ambitious from the start and credited the Hon’ble Prime Minister for proactively pursuing them to ensure that development reaches the last mile.
