In a bid to meet the long-standing demand for a unit of the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), the Government of Kerala has made a decision to handover 150 acre of land at Kinalur, a village in Kozhikode, in order to establish the institute. The decision came after the Central government agreed to the demand for AIIMS.

According to the decision, to facilitate the development of the premier healthcare institution, a total of 153.46 acre of land at Kinalur and adjoining Kanthalad villages will be handed over to the Health & Family Welfare Department.

The combined land includes 140 acre under the industries department along with five acre of unused land leased to the Usha School of Athletics and other nearby land allocated to industrial purposes.

It is to the Director of Medical Education that the land will be made available. The land will be jointly inspected, including by the central government. At Kinalur and Kanthalad villages, the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC), under the industries department, will hand over 142.678 acre of unutilised land at the Industrial Growth Centre (IGC).

AIIMS has 19 centres in different parts of the country.

The state has been demanding to establish a unit, but there was no headway till last year. However, the central government announced a plan to set up 22 more units and with this things changed.

Earlier, Veena George, Minister of Health, had stated that the project will have access to 200 acre of land. Recently, the Union government had informed MP K Muraleedharan that it had given an in-principle nod for AIIMS in Kerala.

Bharati Pawar, Union minister of state for Health and Family Welfare, had informed the MP regarding the decision.