Ahmedabad to Get Autonomous Neurological Institute: Major Healthcare Boost in Gujarat

Gandhinagar : Health Minister Rushikesh Patel announced that an autonomous institute of neurological sciences will be built in Ahmedabad Civil Medicity, which will benefit the treatment and research of ailments affecting the brain and nervous system.

The Health Minister has stated unequivocally that it is the government’s policy to work together, regardless of party or opposition, to give the finest health care to every person of the state.  In addition to criticism, the administration welcomes creative recommendations for strengthening health-care services.  The government openly acknowledges and works on them.

In response to the Health and Family Welfare Department’s demands in the Assembly on Wednesday,  the health minister stated that the institute will provide innovative treatment, high-quality education, and training to the state’s medical students/neurological doctors, and that higher courses in neurology/neuroscience may be offered in the future.  Once this institute is completely functional, satellite facilities will be established around the state.

He announced three new radiotherapy centres in three districts of the state, stating that the Gujarat Cancer and Research Institute in Ahmedabad will establish new radiotherapy centres in Porbandar, Himmatnagar, Valsad, and Godhra to boost cancer services.

The U.N. Mehta Institute of Cardiology in Ahmedabad will open cardiology and neurology departments in Gandhinagar, Surat, and a cardiology satellite center will be operating in Rajkot, Bhavnagar.

The Minister stated that the state government has chosen to establish palliative care wards at six government hospitals as part of an innovative approach to ensuring that patients suffering from serious or life-threatening diseases receive both care and treatment when they reach the end of their lives.

 In addition, he stated that manpower will be made available to establish palliative care wards with a total of 60 beds (30 male and 30 female) in the state’s six government civil hospitals.

Patients in the last stages of serious, incurable, and life-threatening disorders will be relieved of pain using a variety of medical treatments.

Making other major announcements, the Minister stated that manpower will be made available to increase the number of beds in the ICU departments of the state’s government civil hospitals and strengthen their services, as well as to establish a new critical care medicine department adjacent to the ICU.

The state’s government medical colleges and affiliated hospitals, as well as the M & J. Institute of Ophthalmology and Spine Institute in Ahmedabad, would receive new cutting-edge medical equipment worth Rs. 100.00 crore.

He also stated that the super specialty facility being built at Sir T Hospital in Bhavnagar will have a 20-bed nephrology and 20-bed urology department, with a total capacity of 40 beds, and that services for renal patients would begin.

To speed up drug sample testing in the state, a new food and drug laboratory would be created in Gandhinagar or Ahmedabad, as well as three new food testing facilities in Mehsana, Valsad, and Junagadh districts.  The Minister noted that Rs. 28.31 crore has been set aside for laboratory development in the fiscal year 2025-26.

The budget for fiscal year 2025-26 includes a provision for distributing nutritional biscuits to high-risk expectant moms for 180 days.  To guarantee that the state’s most rural residents have timely access to health services, the budget for 2025-26 includes the creation of 30 new female health worker positions in Kutch and Banaskantha sub-health facilities.

The Namo Shree Yojana provides a total of Rs. 12,000/- to 11 categories of women in private and government institutions deliveries in phases, with a total budget allocation of Rs. 488.40 crore, he noted.

The Minister also stated that Rs. 15.00 crore has been set aside for the construction of post-mortem rooms (including cold storage boxes) in the state’s district and sub-district hospitals, as well as a total of Rs. 48.00 crore for the purchase of 200 new 108 ambulances.