Dr Sachidananda Mohanty is Executive Director AIIMS Kashmir

SRINAGAR — Barely 24 hours after the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Jammu was inaugurated, the Government of India has appointed Prof. Dr Sachidananda Mohanty as Executive Director of AIIMS Awantipora, Kashmir.

The Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Dr Sachidananda Mohanty, who has also served as Medical Superintendent of AIIMS Bhubaneswar, as Executive Director of AIIMS, Awantipora.

The ACC has also cancelled the appointment of Lieutenant General Anup Banerjee as Executive Director, AIIMS Awantipora, as per an order issued in this regard.

Banerjee was appointed as the first director of AIIMS Awantipora in June 2022; however, he did not join and his appointment has been cancelled formally now.

Pertinently, AIIMS for both Jammu and Kashmir were approved in 2019, however, AIIMS Jammu has already been inaugurated while AIIMS Awantipora is nowhere near completion yet.

A top official working on AIIMS Awantipora said that in the last few years, there were some issues due to which the work was going on at a sluggish pace; however, all issues were resolved last year and currently, the work is going on in a full swing.

He said the work should continue at the same pace this year so as to complete the hospital by December 2024.

The Cabinet of the Government of India approved the proposal for the establishment of AIIMS- Jammu at Vijaypur, District Samba under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) in January 2019.

The foundation stone for the AIIMS Jammu project was laid by PM Narendra Modi on February 3, 2019 and inaugurated by him on February 20 this year.

The AIIMS Awantipora was approved by the Central government in 2019 at an estimated cost of Rs 1,828 crore and the government has set December 31, 2024, as the deadline for completion of this mega project.