AIIMS Awantipora to Offer 100 MBBS Seats Soon: Sakeena Itoo

Suhail Khan

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Srinagar, Nov 5: Jammu and Kashmir Health Minister Sakeena Itoo on Thursday said AIIMS Awantipora would soon offer 100 MBBS seats, while seeking the Centre’s intervention to bring back the mortal remains of a Kashmiri medical student who died in Bangladesh.

 

Minister Itoo made the announcement after accompanying Union Health Minister J P Nadda during his visit to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Awantipora in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.

 

Speaking to reporters as per Kashmir Convener she said Nadda reviewed the progress of the institute and stressed the need to make it operational at the earliest.

 

“The Union Health Minister has stressed that the institute should become functional as soon as possible. There will be a significant difference in patient care once it becomes operational,” Itoo said.

 

She said 100 MBBS seats would be made available soon, adding that the institute’s operationalisation would strengthen specialised healthcare facilities in the region and reduce the burden on existing tertiary-care hospitals.

 

The minister said Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had visited the institute several times over the past two years to review its progress, while she too had been monitoring the project to ensure its early operationalisation.

 

AIIMS Awantipora was sanctioned in 2015 under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY), with an initial estimated cost of Rs 1,828 crore. The institute is being developed as a 750-bed tertiary-care facility with advanced medical infrastructure, academic facilities and research capabilities.

 

Its operationalisation is expected to improve access to specialised treatment for people in south Kashmir and adjoining areas, who often have to travel to Srinagar for advanced medical care. However, the project has faced delays, prolonging the wait for the region’s premier medical institution to become fully functional.

 

During the visit, minsiter Itoo also raised the case of Adnan Altaf Rather, a final-year MBBS student from Sopore in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, who died in Bangladesh, and requested Nadda’s intervention to facilitate the return of his mortal remains.

 

The minister said she handed over the student’s documents and contact details to Nadda, urging him to take up the matter with the concerned ministry.

 

“The family is deeply distressed. His mother is also in a state of shock. I have requested the Union Health Minister to ensure that his mortal remains are brought back at the earliest,” she said.

 

Minister Itoo said Nadda assured her that he would speak to the concerned ministry and extend assistance in facilitating the repatriation.

 

Adnan, a resident of Dangerpora in Sopore, was pursuing his MBBS at Eastern Medical College in Cumilla, Bangladesh.

 

The 26-year-old student reportedly went missing on November 2 after leaving his college premises. His body was recovered from a pond in Monipur village in Cumilla’s Burichang upazila on November 4.

 

His body was subsequently shifted to Cumilla Medical College Hospital for post-mortem examination. The circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear, and the matter is being investigated by the local authorities.

 

His death has triggered grief in his native Sopore, with the family seeking the early return of his mortal remains to Kashmir.