Bhubaneswar: The much-awaited Government Medical College at Sundargarh in western Odisha is all set to function soon as permission for this has already been obtained, Health and Family Welfare Minister Naba Kishore Das said on Thursday.
Noting that the Health Department has already posted Professors, Assistant Professors and other staff for the Sundargarh Medical College, Das said the matter was also discussed during the Monsoon Session of the Assembly.
Maintaining that he has spoken to the Union Health Minister regarding the early start of the proposed college, the Minister said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has also intervened in the matter as his stress has always been on bolstering the health infrastructure in the state, he said.
“You all will be happy to note that the Sundargarh Medical College is all set to start functioning soon. Permission for this has been obtained,” the Minister said.
Sources said a conditional Letter of Intent (LoI) has been issued to the Government Medical College at Sundargarh for 100 MBBS seats by the National Medical Commission (NMC). It will be the ninth government medical college in Odisha to offer medical education with the total number of seats rising to more than 1,300, they said.
The emphasis is now on providing all necessary infrastructural facilities in terms of teaching and non-teaching staff, building, equipment and hospital as per NMC norms.
The Minister further stated that new cancer hospitals are being set up at Jharsuguda, Bargarh and Burla, while steps are being taken to strengthen and modernise the infrastructure at Acharya Harihara Cancer Hospital in Cuttack.
Similarly, another cancer hospital is also coming up in Bhubaneswar. All these will bring considerable relief to the cancer patients who are covered under the provisions of Biju Swasthya Kayan Yojana (BSKY), he said adding that a state-of-the-art heart hospital is expected to become operational in Jharsuguda by December 2022.
On the question of a second AIIMS for Odisha at Sundargah, Das said that he will again write to the Centre on the matter. The Centre has stated that there is no plan for setting up AIIMS in Sundargarh and it has not rejected the proposal, he said.
It may be noted that Union Minister of State (MoS) for Health, Bharati Pravin Pawar informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday that there are no plans for setting up the premier medical institute and hospital in Sundargarh.
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