NEW DELHI: “The Opposition is misleading the House by giving wrong information about AIIMS Madurai,” Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandavia fumed in the Lok Sabha.
A heated debate on Madurai AIIMS Hospital was staged in the Lok Sabha on Friday, followed by walkout scenes.
Speaking during question hour in the Lok Sabha, DMK MP DR Balu said, “How many medical colleges are functioning without proper infrastructure facilities? How many medical colleges laid foundation stones by Prime Minister Modi are yet to be started?” DMK members said, “AIIMS hospital has not been started in Madurai yet”.
Denying the allegation, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said, “Medical courses are being conducted at Madurai AIIMS. Rs 1,900 crore has been earmarked for infrastructure development. Opposition parties are misleading the House by giving wrong information about Madurai AIIMS hospital.
Some people politicize everything. I know why they do this. I have taken strict action against medical colleges that lack infrastructure, faculty, patients. This is the reaction. Modi government will not allow such illegal activities. We will continue our action against such medical colleges,” he said.
When the minister spoke, DMK and Congress MPs strongly protested. Then some BJP MPs also raised their voices in support of the Union Minister.
At this stage, DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran angrily said, “Who is this person to talk like this? He is threatening us.”
After the agitation continued for some time, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla asked the opposition members to remain calm and said that he would investigate whether the minister’s words were right or wrong. Dissatisfied with this, Congress and DMK MPs walked out of the House.
Earlier, “Prime Minister Modi-led government is taking steps to expand medical courses in the country. Thus, there is no need for students to go abroad to study medicine. As of 2014, there were a total of 387 medical colleges in the country. Now they have increased to 657.
The central government has relaxed the rules for setting up medical colleges by state government or private bodies. The central government has given permission to start 37 medical colleges in the year 2022 alone. Another 89 petitions are under consideration,” said the Union Health Minister.
What is the background? – It was announced in February 2015 that AIIMS Hospital will be set up in Tamil Nadu. Starting from the selection of the site, till the construction of the hospital, there are various problems. During AIADMK regime they tried to move this hospital to Thanjavur. However, the central government chose Madurai on the basis of meritorious women. Minister Udayanidhi, who came to campaign for the last assembly elections, showed a single brick and teased that the construction of AIIMS hospital has not yet started.
He also said that the construction of AIIMS hospital will be started once the DMK government is formed. However, the work has not started till now. The only consolation is that admissions to AIIMS Hospital have started and classes for them are being held at Ramanathapuram Government Medical College.
It has been alleged that the construction of Madurai AIIMS Hospital is being delayed due to DMK-BJP political conflict. There was an allegation that the DMK was not even interested in the alliance MPs Su Venkatesan (Marxist) and Manickam Tagore (Congress). So, the Madurai DMK, along with its allies, recently staged a protest. It is worth noting that the central government held a protest with the demand that the central government allocates its share of Rs.400 crore in the upcoming budget and start the construction of AIIMS hospital in Madurai due to the delay in the arrival of Japanese funds.