PM Modi inaugurates North East’s first AIIMS hospital in Guwahati; all you need to know

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated the All Indian Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) Guwahati in the presence of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Modi arrived in Assam today, where he would see the celebration of Bihu festival by over 10,000 Bihu dancers.

The foundation stone of AIIMS Guwahati was laid by PM Modi in May 2017 and it has been built at a cost of over Rs 1,120 crore.

The super-speciality hospital will serve people not just in Assam, but also in neighbouring northeastern states. The hospital has a total capacity of 750 beds, including 30 AYUSH beds and it will also have an intake capacity of 100 MBBS students per year.

He also inaugurated three medical colleges at Nalbari, Nagaon and Kokrajhar.

The 500-bed tertiary care teaching hospitals with 24 undergraduate departments in the three medical colleges will start with 100 annual MBBS student intake, taking the total MBBS student intake to 1500 in Assam.

He also laid the foundation of the Rs 546 crore Assam Advanced Healthcare Innovation Institute (AAHII), a joint initiative of the state government and IIT Guwahati.

Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier welcomed PM Modi at the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport. "I heartily welcome Hon'ble PM Shri @narendramodi Ji to Assam to celebrate Bihu," Sarma tweeted.

Sarma also announced the plan to distribute 1.1 crore Ayushman cards and projected that number will rise to 3.3 crores in the next one and a half months. With these cards, beneficiaries would be able to receive cashless healthcare benefits for medical treatment up to Rs five lakh.

Also Read: Northeast’s first AIIMS to be inaugurated in Guwahati by PM Modi; all about AIIMS Guwahati