Odisha Doctors Fly To Treat Patients In Nabarangpur Under Novel Health Services Scheme

Bhubaneswar: A team of doctors left for Nabarangpur on Saturday to treat patients from remote areas of the district under Odisha government’s ‘Mukhya Mantri Bayu Swasthya Seba’ or Air Health Services scheme.

The doctors, who left by a special aircraft under the novel scheme, would treat the patients needing specialty and critical care in Nabarangpur, official sources said.

About 800 patients are expected to be treated at Nabarangpur during this visit, said Health and Family Welfare Secretary Shalini Pandit.

The air health services scheme, launched by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in December 2021, aims at providing quality health services to the people belonging to the remote areas of the state.

Under the scheme, specialist doctors are flown to remote areas of the state to treat patients admitted into their respective district headquarter hospitals.

The patients no longer need to come from the districts to major hospitals in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack or Berhampur for treatment.

All the services under this scheme are free of cost and if required, critical patients will be airlifted to Bhubaneswar and Cuttack for advanced treatment.

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