Centre continues to be evasive on AIIMS for Kerala

Even as the denial of an All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to Kerala is among the campaign issues taken up by the Left Democratic Front in the upcoming Assembly elections in the State, the Union government continues to be evasive about why the premier healthcare institution is not being set up here.

The latest example for this is the replies given to Kodikunnil Suresh and Adoor Prakash, Congress MPs, in the Lok Sabha on March 27. They had asked the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare whether the Centre had received proposals from the Kerala government to set up AIIMS in the State. Mr. Suresh and Mr. Prakash sought to know the details, including the locations suggested by the State government and the current status of their consideration, if there was any such proposal.

They also asked if the Union government proposed to sanction AIIMS for Kerala without any delay, considering the long-standing demand and the fact that proposals have already been submitted by the State government. The MPs requested its details along with the likely timeline for approval and establishment if the Centre was planning to give its permission. They sought to know the reasons for the delay if that was not the case and the steps taken by the Union government to address the matter as the State had sent repeated requests for the purpose.

Another question was whether the Union government was aware that Kerala desperately needed an institute of excellence like AIIMS which could also serve as a research centre in view of the reporting of rare viral diseases in the State.

However, Prataprao Jadhav, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, said “the proposal for establishment of AIIMS in Kerala has not been approved”. He said that the State had informed in 2025 about identifying land in Kinalur, Kozhikode, for the purpose. The Minister also pointed out that in 2016, the State government had identified and proposed Kinalur in Kozhikode district, Kattakkada taluk in Thiruvananthapuram district, and Kottayam and Ernakulam districts as possible locations. Mr. Jadhav, however, did not specify the reasons for the delay and chose not to answer the other queries, but mentioned about the objective of the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana under which the institutes are being set up across the country. He also referred to the approval for strengthening and upgrading of government medical college hospitals in Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha, and Kozhikode.

Earlier, on March 10, V. Sivadasan, Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP in the Rajya Sabha, enquired about the amount of funds allocated in the Union Budget for existing and for setting up of new AIIMS in the last five years. However, the Minister’s reply did not contain any references to Kerala. The Union Health Ministry had in August 2019 asked the Union Finance Ministry to give “in-principle” approval for a new AIIMS for Kerala.