Odisha To Upgrade 147 Hospitals, Set Up 4 More Medical Colleges

Bhubaneswar: A total of 147 hospitals in Odisha will be upgraded as part of the state government’s ‘Ama Hospital’ programme under 5T initiative for which Rs 750 crore will be allocated.

This was stated by Health Secretary Shalini Pandit in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday.

Pandit, who spoke at the Senior Officers Conference during the Healthcare session themed ‘Quality healthcare for all – Ama Hospital and BSKY”, said seven medical colleges have already been set up in the state, while efforts are on to set up four more colleges in Kalahandi, Talcher, Jajpur and Kandhamal.

The state government is also in the process of establishing dedicated cancer and cardiac care hospitals in Jharsuguda in PPP mode, she said.

A decision has been taken to run specialty hospitals on public private partnership (PPP) mode in Angul, Barbil, Jharsuguda and Bhadrak, and complete the Odisha University of Health Sciences this year. This apart, around 500 more hospitals are empanelled outside Odisha as part of expansion of Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY), Pandit said.

The government is also taking steps for upgradation of the Capital Hospital into a Post Graduate Institute.

To defeat cancer, Bagchi Srishankar Cancer Hospital with 750 beds and all modern amenities is being established in the State Capital. Another 200-bed State of the Art Cancer Hospital is in process of being set up by the Tata Memorial Centre in collaboration with the Odisha government and Department of Atomic Energy in the NISER campus.

Regarding vacant posts, the Health Secretary said 3,000 doctors have been selected through Odisha State Public Service Commission (OPSC), all of whom will receive the appointment letters in September and there are plans to recruit 5,000 more doctors through the same process.

Odisha is the first state in the country to provide Air Health Service by flying specialists to rural interior areas of the state to bring the super specialist care to every corner of the state, under ‘Mukhya Mantri Bayu Swasthya Seba’.

The panel discussion also revolved around patient-centric transformation of hospitals under 5T, and the importance of Collectors in monitoring the scheme. Collectors were advised on empanelment of all good hospitals under BSKY and regular surveillance on medical services.