Fund crunch hits RIMS
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, June 25 2017:
Even though the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has taken RIMS under its wing, the medical institute is now facing financial problems.
It is reported that the Ministry did not release necessary fund for the fiscal year 2016-17 leading to financial shortages.
Sources informed that the Ministry is yet to release grant-in-aid amount for the first three months of the current financial year.
Earlier, The Sangai Express reported that the grant-in-aid amount for the first three months had been released by the Ministry.
Regardless of whether grant-in-aid amount for the first three months has been released or not, it was believed that RIMS would not face any financial shortages.
However, contrary to the general belief, the medical institute is now facing financial crunch.
RIMS authority was demanding a budget of Rs 460 crore for the current financial year from the Ministry but it was later fixed at Rs 190 crore against the Rs 270 crore budget of the last financial year.
Even though this financial year's budget has been fixed at Rs 190 crore, it is expected that the budget may be hiked when the revised estimates are submitted.
After the annual budget was finalised, RIMS authority demanded Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to release Rs 31.6 crore for the first three months.
It is said that around Rs 15 crore is spent in paying salaries to employees in a month.
With the Ministry not releasing any fund for the current financial year, employees' salaries for the month of May have not been paid even though it is the last week of June.
Salaries for the month of April were paid from the corpus fund of the medical institute.