The Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), starved of cash received Rs 48 crore – part of the first installment of Rs 100 crore promised to the hospital, the largest-ever such grant to it – on Wednesday.
During the last budget review of 2014-15, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was convinced that NIMS was in dire need of funds for repair and renovation of infrastructure and replacement of outdated equipment with modern equipment.
Towards this, he had given his nod for a little over Rs 100 crore. The hospital’s non-plan grants amount to Rs 85 crore of which it has already received Rs 65 crore. The planned and non-planned grants put together for the last year amounted to Rs 84 cr.
NIMS Director L Narendranath confirmed that the hospital has received the funds. He said the funds would be used for repairs and renovation besides purchasing new equipment.
“It is the largest ever grant to NIMS and it has happened only because of the Chief Minister. He was convinced of the need for funds at NIMS. We will put these funds to use immediately,” said the Director.
Senior faculty members, who are delighted with the release of grants, said clearance for first batch of equipment was scheduled for Monday. A final nod from the finance committee is expected. Sources said the process of charting out plans for effective utilisation of grants had started months ago when the Chief Minister had made the announcement. Another set of equipment will be cleared for purchase before March.
It is learnt that NIMS will go in for revised contracts after paying off pending payments to suppliers. Earlier, payments to suppliers had been pending for up to 10 months. However, over the last two years, it has been brought down to five months. With payment of pending bills, NIMS will be able to go for the latest rates for each contract. Some of the decades old equipment too will be put to rest now.
NIMS has already placed an order for major equipment and the whole process is expected to be completed by the end of May. The hospital plans to put all new equipment into effective use by mid-June.
Source: The New Indian Express