New Delhi, Sep 15 (IANS): The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday approved establishment of an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Darbhanga in Bihar.

The apex institute will be established under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY). The Cabinet also approved the creation of a post of Director for this AIIMS.

The total cost for the project will be around Rs. 1264 crore and is likely to be completed within a period of 48 months from the date of the approval by the Government of India.

The Central government said that the new AIIMS will add 100 under-graduate MBBS seats and 60 B.Sc. Nursing seats to the pool of health care professionals in the country. It will also have 15-20 super specialty departments and 750 hospital beds.

The new AIIMS is expected to cater to 2,000 OPD patients every day and around 1,000 IPD patients per month.

Establishment of new AIIMS involves creation of a hospital, teaching block for medical and nursing courses, residential complex and allied facilities and services, broadly on the pattern of AIIMS, New Delhi and other six new AIIMS taken up under Phase-I of PMSSY.

The objective is to establish the new AIIMS as Institution of National Importance for providing quality tertiary healthcare, medical education, nursing education and research in the Region.

The proposed institution shall have a hospital with capacity of 750 beds which will include Emergency and Trauma beds, ICU beds, AYUSH beds, Private beds and Specialty and Super Specialty beds.

Plus, there will be a Medical College, AYUSH Block, auditorium, night shelter, guest house, hostels and residential facilities. The establishment of the new AIIMS will create capital assets for which requisite specialised manpower will be created, based on the pattern of the six new AIIMS, for their operations and maintenance.

The recurring cost on these Institutions shall be met through Grant-in-Aid to them from the Plan Budget Head of PMSSY of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

"Setting up of new AIIMS would not only transform health education and training but also address the shortfall of health care professionals in the region," the government said in a statement.

The establishment of new AIIMS will serve the dual purpose of providing super specialty health care to the population while also help create a large pool of doctors and other health workers in this region that can be available for primary and secondary level institutions and facilities being created under the National Health Mission (NHM).

"Setting up a new AIIMS in the state will lead to employment-generation for nearly 3,000 persons in various faculty and non-faculty posts. Further, indirect employment generation will take place due to facilities and services such as shopping centres, canteens, etc. coming in the vicinity of the new AIIMS," added the statement.

The construction activity involved for creation of the physical infrastructure for the AIIMS Darbhanga is also expected to generate substantial employment during the construction phase as well. This will fill the gaps in tertiary health-care infrastructure as well as facilities for quality medical education in the State and adjoining areas.