Aizawl, Dec 20 (IANS): Mizoram Governor P.S. Sreedharan Pillai has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to set up an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the state which is battling several dreaded diseases including HIV/AIDS, cancer, and malaria, an official statement said on Sunday.

According to the statement, the Governor met Modi at the latter's residence in the national capital on Saturday and submitted a memorandum for setting up of an AIIMS or at least an AIIMS-like super speciality facility in Mizoram.

The Prime Minister was enlightened on key issues in the health sectors within Mizoram with special highlights on HIV/AIDS, cancer, malaria, heart diseases, and neurological problems among others, it said.

In the health sector, the Governor suggested to the Prime Minister that the health sector in Mizoram leaves a lot to be desired and is still under-developed, with even the district headquarters falling behind in basic amenities.

Modi was also informed that even in the state capital, the hospitals do not have adequate medical infrastructures for treatment of some critically-ill patients and that the serious patients, most of the time, are needed to be shipped out of the state incurring huge expenditures.