The Union government on Monday officially announced that admission for Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose All India Institute of Medical Sciences here will be held in August this year. "We are planning to start admission from this year," Union health and family welfare secretary P K Pradhan told reporters here.

As reported earlier in TOI, the government will admit 50 students in the first batch, compared to its proposed capacity of 100. Fifty students each will be admitted in AIIMS Patna, Jodhpur, Bhopal, Raipur and Rishikesh as well.

The government is planning to accommodate Bhubaneswar students in another location till infrastructure in the upcoming AIIMS campus in the city is ready, sources said. Pradhan met chief secretary B K Patnaik and discussed the progress of the project. Pradhan expressed satisfaction on the progress of construction work and said hostels will be ready by December. The 500-bed hospital is also likely to be operational by the end of this year, he said. When fully operational, the number of beds will go up to 960.

Besides 500 beds for the medial college hospital, the institute is planning to have 300 beds for speciality / super speciality study, 100 beds for intensive care and trauma, 30 beds for physical medicine and rehabilitation and 30 beds for Ayush ( ayurveda, yoga, unani, siddha and homeopathy). The hospital intends to provide healthcare facilities in 42 speciality / super speciality disciplines.