Phase I
In 2003 the Government of India announced the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) initiative which aimed at “correcting regional imbalances in the availability of affordable/reliable tertiary healthcare services”. This was to be done through two main channels: setting up AIIMS-like institutions and upgrading government medical colleges.
PMSSY was officially launched in March 2006 and six AIIMS-like medical institutes were announced for under-served states in Patna, Bhopal, Raipur, Bhubaneshwar, Jodhpur and Rishikesh.
Theses were originally assigned ₹332 crore (equivalent to ₹858 crore or US$120 million in 2019) per institution, a sum which was raised to ₹820 crore (equivalent to ₹15 billion or US$210 million in 2019) in 2010. They were later retroactively denoted “Phase I institutes”.
Phase II
In 2013 a further gazette notification was made under the same Act, establishing AIIMS Raebareli.It was later denoted as “Phase-II” of PMSSY.
Phase III
No new institutes were introduced in Phase III.
Phase IV
In July 2014, in the budget speech for 2014–15, the Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley announced a budget of ₹500 crore (equivalent to ₹643 crore or US$90 million in 2019) for setting up four new AIIMS, in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra and the Purvanchal region in Uttar Pradesh.These “Phase-IV” institutes, became AIIMS Mangalagiri in Andhra Pradesh and AIIMS Nagpur in Maharashtra, established in 2018 and later AIIMS Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh and AIIMS Kalyani in West Bengal, which started operation in 2019.
Phase V
On 28 February 2015, in the 2015–2016 budget speech, Jaitley announced five more AIIMS, in Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Assam and Tamil Nadu and an “AIIMS-like” institute in Bihar. On 7 November 2015, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi had announced development package for Jammu & Kashmir which includes the setting up of two AIIMS, in the capital cities of Jammu and Kashmir.
Of these seven “Phase-V” institutes, sites have been assigned for at Changsari, near Guwahati, in Assam, Vijay Pur in the Jammu Division of Jammu and Kashmir, Awantipora in the Kashmir Division of Jammu and Kashmir, Bathinda in Punjab, Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh, Madurai in Tamil Nadu and the latest, Darbhanga in Bihar, which was finally approved in September 2020.
In December 2018 the government has approved and assigned funds for the AIIMS in Madurai, and a foundation stone was set in January 2019. AIIMS Bathinda started operation in 2019.AIIMS Bilaspur, AIIMS Guwahati and AIIMS Vijaypur became operational in 2020.
Phase VI
On 1 February 2017, in the budget presentation for 2017–2018, Jaitley announced two more AIIMS, in Jharkhand and Gujarat.Of these “Phase-VI” institutes, sites were identified in Deoghar for the institute in Jharkhand and in Khandheri near Rajkot for Gujarat.AIIMS Deoghar started operation in 2018 and AIIMS Rajkot in 2020.
Phase VII
A week after the 2017–2018 budget presentation, on 9 February 2017, Jaitley announced an AIIMS in Telangana.On 17 December 2018, the cabinet approved the AIIMS, to be located in Bibinagar, near Hyderabad. This institute was later denoted as “Phase-VII”. It started operation in August 2019.
Phase VIII
On 1 February 2019, in the presentation of the interim budget for 2019–2020, Piyush Goyal, who was given temporary charge of the Minister of Finance a week earlier, announced an AIIMS in Haryana. This institute was later denoted as “Phase-VIII”. In March, the cabinet approved the institute in Manethi, Rewari district.
