-By ArdorComm News Network
February 15, 2023
According to a senior health department official, the Odisha government will set up a cutting-edge cancer care institute, upgrade 147 hospitals, and set up four new medical colleges as part of the “Ama Hospital” programme.
Speaking at the two-day collectors conference that started on Tuesday, Health and Family Welfare Secretary Shalini Pandit made this statement. Kalahandi, Talcher, Jajpur, and Kandhamal are the proposed locations for the new medical colleges, according to Pandit, who also noted that the state government has approved Rs 750 crore under the “Ama Hospital” programme.
Pandit stated that the government was developing dedicated cancer and cardiac care hospitals in Jharsuguda in a PPP mode and that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had set a motto of “every life is precious.” Seven new medical colleges, according to her, have opened in the last several years, and four more are in the planning stages.
Capital Hospital Bhubaneswar has been transformed into a Post Graduate Institute. She added that the establishment of the Odisha University of Health Sciences is already underway and that PPP projects for inexpensive healthcare have been planned in four areas, including Angul, Barbil, Jharsuguda, and Bhadrak, to create up hospitals providing specialist care.
The health secretary also mentioned the establishment of the “Bagchi Srishankar Cancer Hospital” in the state capital, which will have 750 beds and all modern amenities. On the NISER campus, Tata Memorial Center is working with the Government of Odisha and the Department of Atomic Energy to build a second 200-bed state-of-the-art cancer hospital.
Pandit added that Odisha is the first and only state in the nation to impose a requirement that all patients receive free treatment in all public health facilities. In all government healthcare facilities, from primary health centres to medical college hospitals, the free services include free medications, diagnostics, OPD, IPD, surgery, and ICU.