Bhubaneswar: After launching the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) smart health cards in all districts of the state, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will launch another major health facility for the people of Odisha — ‘Mukhya Mantri Vayu Swasthya Seva’ (Chief Minster Air Health Service).
Patnaik will launch the service at the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here around 10.45 am.
Under the air health service, critical patients requiring specialised treatment will be airlifted to well-equipped hospitals. Doctors and surgeons will also travel to remote areas to treat patients.
The health facility will be launched in four districts initially, Kalahandi, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur and Nuapada.
The facility will be different from existing services as top surgeons and specialists will be taken to the doorsteps of patients in remote regions. As part of the scheme, operation theatres at the District Headquarters Hospitals (DHHs) will be augmented to conduct major surgeries.
Incidentally, the first stop of the air health service will be Malkangiri, where the Naveen Patnaik government first launched the BSKY scheme before expanding it to all districts of the state.
Cardiologists, gastroenterologists and urologists from the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack will arrive in Malkangiri to treat patients and perform surgeries, informed Prafulla Nanda, CDMO, Malkangiri. Earlier, it used to take 10-12 hours to transport critical patients to Visakhapatnam or Cuttack by road, he added.
The number of patients in Odisha who need to be rushed to better medical facilities in faraway cities is rising. Air ambulances are most suitable to transport such patients to hospitals in a different city.
During the second COVID-19 wave, many people from Odisha were airlifted to other places for specialised treatment.
The Naveen Patnaik government has been at the forefront of improving healthcare facilities in Odisha, launching the BSKY scheme.
Patnaik has also said that efforts were on to develop the SCB Medical College and Hospital into an ‘AIIMS Plus’ institute.
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