Odisha MP Meets Union Health Minister, Seeks Special Funds For AIIMS-Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: Senior BJP leader and Union Minister of State for MSME & Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Pratap Chandra Sarangi has urged Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan to allocate special funds for AIIMS-Bhubaneswar.

During a meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday, Sarangi said that the AIIMS-Bhubaneswar being one of the six AIIMS set up under flagship Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) has the highest patient load vis-a-vis its counterparts, creating tremendous pressure on the existing faculty/staff and its healthcare infrastructure and facilities.

While the fund is uniformly allocated for all the six AIIIMS disregarding the vital aspect of patient load, the faculty recruitment has been a major issue at Bhubaneswar as the proposed additional posts creation has been pending with the apex decision-making authorities for quite some time, he said.

Stating that AIIMS-Bhubaneswar has been facing acute shortage in the faculty and non-faculty positions with a large number of vacancies, Sarangi said that the situation has become deplorable over the years, especially during the pandemic time when vital services in the hospital including OPD had to be shut due to faculty/staff crunch.

Also Read: Centre To Set Up Odisha-Level Virus Research Lab At AIIMS-Bhubaneswar

“Besides, the infrastructure and facilities befitting the stature of AIIMS are still not in place. Absence of super specialty doctors in several disciplines and lack of requisite medical infrastructure and facilities have contributed towards a scenario where patients are forced to seek treatment in private hospitals which are prohibitively costly. Many of the patients are forced to avail treatment outside the state including AIIMS-Delhi,” the Odisha MP maintained.

Drawing the attention of the Union Health Minister, Sarangi further said that the AIIMS-Bhubaneswar has a satellite centre at Balasore and it has been languishing due to lack or requisite funds, absence of basic infrastructure and facilities and shortage of staff.

Also Read: OPD Of AIIMS Satellite Centre In Odisha’s Balasore To Start Soon