A top official of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences here has said efforts are being made to launch the outpatient department with limited services in February, but no decision was taken on the date to start the 940-bed in-patient wing.

However, a Union health ministry official in New Delhi said the in-patient service might be made operational by end-2020 with a limited capacity.

The AIIMS-Kalyani’s deputy director (administration), Col. Sree Krishna, told The Telegraph: “The OPD is our top priority at present. We are trying our best to launch the limited OPD service in February next year. The construction of the five-storied OPD building is nearing completion. We are hopeful of the OPD’s launch soon.”

Krishna refused to comment on the launch of the in-patient service.

Asked what kind of OPD facilities would be offered to patients, he said the decision would be taken by higher authorities.

The AIIMS is being built on 179.82 acres allotted by the Bengal government at Basantapur, on the outskirts of Kalyani in Nadia district. The site is about 45km from Calcutta and well connected by NH12.

The first batch of the MBBS at the AIIMS has 50 students who started attending classes at the Kalyani College of Medicine temporarily since September 4. However, they stay in a new hostel on the AIIMS’s Basantapur campus.

“We are trying to make our academic infrastructure ready by August next year so that 100 MBBS students of the next batch can be accommodated on our own campus,” said Krishna.

Sources said the first MBBS batch was being taught physiology, anatomy, biochemistry, and community and health medicine. “There are 19 faculty members at present and some more will join soon,” Krishna said.

The sources said officials of the Union health ministry were coordinating with the Bengal government for infrastructure development outside the AIIMS premises.

“We are in touch with the state government which is responsible for developing infrastructure outside our premise. This includes road and other amenities,” a health ministry official said over the phone from Delhi.

The link road that connects the AIIMS to NH12 has already been widened and made a four-lane route.

The construction of the AIIMs is being executed by a number of private agencies under the supervision of the Centre’s Hospital Services Consultancy Corporation Limited.

The health official in New Delhi said efforts were being made to accelerate the pace of work so that the in-patient department could start functioning by the end of next year with limited facilities. “But our aim is to make it fully operational by 2020,” he added.