Wednesday, January 22, 2014

VIMS hangs fire

 By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Jan 21, 2014:  The proposed construction of Visakhapatnam Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) is a perfect example of official apathy.  It was in 2005 that the YS Rajasekhar Reddy led Congress government proposed Rs 250 cr worth hospital with 21 super specialty wings to cater to the needs of the people of coastal districts of Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, East and West Godavari.

The foundation stone for the project, coming up in 110 acres of land near Hanumanthavaka in the city was laid in 2007. The target was to complete the project within 16 months from the day foundation is laid. Down the line after 6 years, now in 2014 bare walls and empty buildings welcome the visitors at the proposed site. Lack of sufficient funds has hit the progress of works of the hospital, which is to be developed into a super specialty hospital modeled on the Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) in Hyderabad.

The 1,300-bed VIMS with specialisation wings – oncology, neurology, trauma care, cardiology, and gastroenterology were planned.  So far buildings for six specialty blocks has been completed at a cost of Rs 55 crore and works stopped due to shortage of funds.

In an act of mockery against the promises made by chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and health minister D L Ravindra Reddy earlier that Rs 90 crore would be sanctioned immediately for the completion of pending works the budget for 2012-13 has allocated only Rs 10 crore.

The first phase, in which government proposed to complete a 450 bed hospital, is also yet to be finished.  It is learnt that VIMS immediately requires Rs 90 cr for the first phase launch for buying the medical equipment and getting support staff.


VIMS is meant for people of north coastal Andhra districts and can also cater to the needs of people in neighbouring states. A super speciality facility is needed for the people of this area since NIMS in Hyderabad is taking care of Telangana region and the Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (SVIMS), at Tirupati, caters to Rayalaseema region. While the State Government is helping out NIMS, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) board is meeting all the needs of SVIMS.

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