Odisha government has planned to set up four more medical colleges and upgrade 147 hospitals across the State

Bhubaneswar:14/2/23: With its motto ‘Every life is precious, the Odisha government has planned to set up four more medical colleges and upgrade 147 hospitals across the State besides developing a state-of the art cancer care institute.

It was informed by the Health secretary Shalini Pandit at the Officers Conference today.

The Government of Odisha is in the process of establishing dedicated cancer and cardiac care hospitals in Jharsuguda in a PPP mode, she said.

With a goal to further strengthen health infrastructure, the State has taken measures to strengthen the health infrastructure.

Seven new Medical Colleges have been inaugurated in the past few years while four more Medical Colleges are in the process. Capital Hospital has been upgraded to a Post Graduate Institute.

Establishment of Odisha University of Health Sciences is underway, she said.

Affordable Healthcare projects for setting up hospitals providing specialist care have been planned in four locations i.e Angul, Barbil, Jharsuguda and Bhadrak, in PPP mode.

To defeat cancer, “Bagchi Srishankar Cancer Hospital” with 750 beds and all modern amenities is being established in the State capital. Another 200 bedded State of the Art Cancer Hospital is in the process of being set up by Tata Memorial Center in collaboration with Govt. of Odisha and Department of Atomic Energy in the NISER campus.

Pandit said, Odisha is the first and only State in the country to mandate free treatment for all persons, in all public health facilities. The free services include free drugs, diagnostics, OPD, IPD, surgery, ICU, etc, in all government healthcare facilities, from Primary Health Centers to Medical College Hospitals.

The free services can be availed by all people, irrespective of residence, caste, or economic status. To enable this, the scheme ‘Niramaya’ was introduced for ensuring free drugs to all, ‘Nidaan’ for free diagnostic services, ‘Sahay” for the provision of free dialysis services in all districts. Further, free blood is being provided to the patients requiring blood in Public Health Facilities, and free chemotherapy facility is there for cancer patients.

In addition to providing free healthcare in all public health facilities, the State government has taken additional measures to safeguard the health of economically vulnerable sections of society, and women in particular, through the BSKY or Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana. The BSKY provides cashless care in empanelled private hospitals, to over 96.5 lakh households.

The cashless coverage is up to Rs 5 lakh per annum for a family and Rs 10 lakh per annum for women members of the family. All major hospitals within the State and premier hospitals across 16 States are empanelled under this scheme.