Six Aspirational District Hospitals in Odisha To Be Converted Into Medical Colleges: Union Minister

Bhubaneswar:  The Centre has decided to convert six aspirational district hospitals in Odisha into medical colleges, said Union Health the Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday.

“The Centre has decided to convert 75 aspirational district hospitals in the country into medical colleges of which it has targeted to convert 49 hospitals including six hospitals in Odisha in 4-5 years,” the Union minister told the media here.

He also said that the Centre will sincerely consider the proposal of the Odisha government for setting up of two more medical colleges in two other aspirational districts.

The Centre has included 10 districts of Odisha— Balangir, Dhenkanal Gajapati, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangapur, Nuapada and Rayagada in the list of aspirational districts.

The Union minister also urged the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to implement the Ayushman Bharat Yojana of the Centre.

During his visit, Harsh Vardhan unveiled the statue of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the AIIMS-Bhubaneswar campus. Later, he dedicated a modular Operation Theatre, ICU complex and a cath lab (cardiac catheterization lab room where minimally invasive tests and procedures are done to diagnose and treat cardiovascular disease) unit of the premier institute.

Among others, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi, Kendrapara MP Anubhav Mohanty and BJD Rajya Sabha member and member of the statutory body of AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, Amar Patnaik were present.

Informing the media later, director AIIMS-Bhubaneswar, B Gitanjali said that a Gamma Knife Centre with first-generation 1.5 Tesla intra-operative MRI surgical suite will be set up at this institute from next year. “The centre with hybrid interventional operating rooms for brain tumour surgery, High Energy Linear Accelerator (HELA) and a Centre of Excellence for clinical Microbiome Research (CCMR) will be a unique facility in the eastern region and many patients requiring neurosurgery can be treated without a surgical incision,” she added.