If there is one thing that gave a huge spotlight on soon-to-be-minister Udhayanidhi Stalin in Tamil Nadu, it would his campaign against the snail's pace construction of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Madurai. During the campaign trail of the state assembly polls in 2021, Udhayanidhi Stalin has shown a brick, which was etched as 'AIIMS', to the voters to slam the BJP- ruling Union government for not expediting the construction and to denote that only a brick was laid down by the government.

It's been one-and-a-half-year since Udhayanidhi's campaign drawn a national attention and the state of AIIMS Madurai remains the same and the centre has been blamed for causing a delay in constructing what would be the first AIIMS in Tamil Nadu. Now, the Centre has come up with a new reason on why the project is getting delayed. Addressing in the Lok Sabha, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that the AIIMS Madurai project is getting delayed due to its funding method. 

In the ongoing parliamentary session, DMK MP Kalanidhi Veeraswamy raised a question to the centre asking why the construction work hasn't begun even three years after the foundation stone was laid in January 2019. Responding to his question, Union Health Minister Mandaviya said that the delay in implementation was because the project was taken up under Extra Budgetary Resources (EBR) funding through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). 

The Union minister said that the project implementation project was five years and eight months, from March 2021 to October 2026. By citing that the foundation stone was laid in January 2019 and that the land for the project was transferred by the state government in February 2020, Mandaviya stated that the loan agreement was signed between the governments of Japan and India in March, 2021. He added that the cost estimate was revised by the Japanese agency due to some additions. 

In his reply, Mandaviya said, "Since the cabinet approved project cost was Rs 1264 crore, and the revised cost was estimated at Rs 1977.8 crore by JICA on account of inclusion of 150 bedded Infectious Disease Block and some other additions, the Ministry constituted Revised Cost Estimate Committee to examine the matter in detail." He further noted that the proposal for financial appraisal was finally approved in October 2022. 

The Union Health Minister highlighted that some pre-investment activity including the construction of a boundary wall is nearing its completion and the expression of interest for hiring a project management consultant to implement the project was completed. Earlier this February, responding to the question raised by Tamil Nadu MP Thol Thirumavalavan, the Union Health Ministry said that the AIIMS Madurai project will be completed by October 2026.