The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a proposal to establish three new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana, the Centre said in a statement. The aim is to establish the new AIIMS as Institutions of National Importance to provide quality tertiary healthcare, medical and nursing education, and research in the regions, the government said.

In Jammu and Kashmir, AIIMS will be set up in Vijaynagar, in Jammu district Samba, at Rs 1,661 crore and at Awantipora in Pulwama district at a cost of Rs 1,828 crore. In Gujarat’s Rajkot district, the the facility will be set up at a cost of Rs 1,195 crore. While the institute in Samba is expected to be ready in 48 months, the one in Pulwama will be ready in 72 months, the government said. The facility in Rajkot is expected to be ready in 45 months.

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Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare JP Nadda said the setting up of new AIIMS institutions will transform health education and training as well as address the shortfall of health care professionals. “The establishment of new AIIMS will serve the dual purpose of providing super specialty health care to the population closer to their homes, 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/facilities being created under National Health Mission,” Nadda said.

The minister added that construction of new AIIMS is fully funded by the central government. “The operations and maintenance expenses on new AIIMS are also fully borne by the central government,” he added.

Each new AIIMS will add 100 undergraduate medical seats, 60 nursing seats. Each facility will have 15 to 20 Super Specialty Departments, it added. “Setting up new AIIMS in Jammu and Kashmir and in Gujarat will lead to employment generation for nearly 3000 people in various faculty and non-faculty posts in each of the AIIMS,” the statement read. “Indirect employment generation will take place due to facilities and services like shopping centre, canteens, etc coming in the vicinity of new AIIMS.”