Sundargarh: The Western Odisha Yuva Manch is observing a 12-hour bandh in Odisha’s Sundagarh on Friday, demanding the establishment of a second AIIMS in the district.
The bandh will remain in force till 6 pm.
Educational institutions, shops and government offices have been shut in view of the bandh. Vehicular movement has also been affected.
Currently, Odisha has only one AIIMS in Bhubaneswar.
The Naveen Patnaik-led BJD government has been demanding a second AIIMS in Odisha for the last two years.
Odisha’s hopes for a second AIIMS at Sundargarh were, however, dashed when Union Minister of State (MoS) for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar informed the Rajya Sabha earlier this month that there were no plans for setting up the premier medical institute and hospital in the western district of the state.
Replying to a question of BJD MP Sasmit Patra, Bharati said, “Several AIIMS are being set up in different parts of the country, keeping in view the gaps in the availability of tertiary healthcare facilities, in a phased manner.”
She further said that 22 new AIIMS have been approved under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana. “As far as Odisha is concerned, it already has a fully functional AIIMS at Bhubaneswar and another satellite centre of the institute has been approved at Balasore,” the Union minister said.
In February also, Bharati had indirectly turned down Odisha’s demand while replying to a question of Sundargarh BJP MP Jual Oram.
