New Delhi (PTI): The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed a Bill which sought to make Puducherry-based Jawaharlal Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) a medical institute of national importance and grant adequate financial powers to it.

The Jawaharlal Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry Bill, 2008 was passed by the Rajya Sabha on April 23.

Replying to the discussion on the Bill, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said though the Institute began as a multi-speciality hospital and research centre, yet it was not going the way it should have.

"Unfortunately it was not going the way it should have. There were lot of vacancies, little infrastructure and (it) did not even have a neurologist," Ramdas told the House adding that even those medicos recruited for JIPMER did not stay there.

The need for the Institute was to have its own finance bodies, give degrees and "come out of the slumber," he said.

Seeking to allay the apprehensions of the employees that their pay or perks could be slashed, the Minister said all those considerations have been factored in while finalising the Bill.

Ramadoss said the government has already invested Rs 180 crore in the Institute to make it a super-specility hospital.