‘State government unbiased on location for AIIMS’

The Hindu: Madurai: Monday, August 28, 2017.

Official says no misleading information was provided about Madurai

Tamil Nadu government was neither in favour nor against any of the five locations shortlisted for setting up All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)-like hospital in Tamil Nadu by the Union government, said J. Radhakrishnan, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department.

Speaking to the media during his inspection at Government Rajaji Hospital here on Sunday, he refuted the allegations that his department was trying to influence the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to choose Sengipatti in Thanjavur district for the project by providing favourable details about the place over Thoppur in Madurai district, which is another shortlisted place.

He was referring to recent media reports based on information obtained by Madurai-based activists through the Right to Information Act, which reportedly showed that the State government had submitted misleading details about train connectivity in Madurai district.

While stressing that no misleading information was provided about Madurai, Dr. Radhakrishnan also said that the RTI replies revealed only partial information, which led to misunderstanding.

“The RTI reply was about a particular letter sent by us to the Union government, in which the distance between railway station and the site under consideration in Madurai was mentioned. Based on this, it was projected as if these details were shared only for Madurai. However, similar details for other locations have been provided in our earlier letters,” he said.

“To avoid such confusions, we have recently sent a final consolidated letter to the Union government with all necessary information for all the five sites,” he added.

Sub-committee to decide

Dr. Radhakrishnan also pointed out that the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had formed a sub-committee to assist the expert committee that was overseeing the AIIMS project for Tamil Nadu. “This sub-committee, which comprised only Central government officials, would take a final call on the location and the State government would not have any role in the decision apart from providing necessary details, which we have already done,” he said.