[Watch] Air Health Services Take Flight In Odisha, Four Districts To Benefit

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minster Naveen Patnaik on Monday launched Mukhyamantri Bayu Swasthya Seva (Air Health Services) at Biju Patnaik International Airport in Odisha capital.

The service will be offered, free of cost, to patients in Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi and Nuapada. If required, critical patients will be airlifted to Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, informed Health Minister Naba Das.

A team from the SCB Medical College and Hospital, comprising Datteswar Hota (urologist), Satya Narayan Routray (cardiologist), Chitta Ranjan Panda (gastroenterologist), took the inaugural flight to Malkangiri, official sources said, adding that the patients were earlier selected through tele-consultation.

Neurologists, nephrologists, cardiologists from medical colleges and corporate hospitals, mainly in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, will be mostly flown to the four district headquarters hospitals, where diagnostic facilities and operation theatres, have been created keeping in mind the specialised care.

The service will bridge the gap in healthcare services, owing to the reluctance of doctors to be posted in remote districts because of their locational disadvantage. It will cater to people from the economically weaker sections.