Tamil Nadu Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ma Subramanian, on Sunday, July 23, said that the construction work of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Madurai will begin only by the end of 2024, after the tender processes and is expected to become functional from 2028. He also added that the delays in the construction are due to the fact that the Union government is completely dependent on Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for funds. The Minister was talking to media persons in Madurai after participating in ‘Uthiram 2023’ awareness marathon, organised by Madurai Medical College, for creating awareness about the importance of blood donation.

Stating that the Tamil Nadu government is taking the necessary steps to start the construction work, he said that the government had, earlier this month, put forth 14 demands to the Union health ministry. “The primary demand is to speed up the construction work of Madurai AIIMS. The Minister [Mansukh Mandaviya] assured us to look into the matter and meet us soon. We are hoping to get a call from them,” he said and added that the admission of students has been going on since the past two years.

“There are a hundred students studying in two years so far, and this year another 50 students will be admitted. All of them are studying at the Ramanathapuram Medical College. As we know, only the compound wall has been built in the Thoppur campus so far. There have been some coordination issues between JICA and the Union government, which has led to the delays. Another issue is that the Union government is completely dependent on the loan amount from JICA loan for Madurai AIIMS. In other places, there was a contribution made by the Union government which helped prevent the delay,” he said.

Further, Minister Subramanian said that the Tamil Nadu government met JICA and requested them to speed up the process. “They have said that the tenders for designing the building and other works will be floated and finalised soon, and the work will begin by the end of 2024. After that, it will take nearly four years for the completion of the work. So, we can expect that the college will become functional by 2028,” he said.