BHUBANESWAR: At a time when poor healthcare services in State taking toll on human lives make headlines almost everyday, the Union Health Ministry has praised Odisha Government for its overall performance in health sector.
Reviewing the progress of different schemes in the State here on Thursday, Secretary of Health and Family Welfare Ministry CK Mishra said Odisha is doing well in health sector but needs to implement the schemes expeditiously.
The appreciation, however, came nearly a couple of months after Union Health Minister Faggan Singh Kulaste held the State Government responsible for rise in cases of vector-borne diseases in Odisha due to lack of precautionary measures.
Mishra, on the other hand, termed the reports of people shouldering their near and dear ones to hospitals and transporting bodies in absence of mortuary vans as local issues and asked the State authorities to look for immediate remedial measures. He assured that the Centre would provide necessary support for development of health sector.
Briefing the healthcare scenario in the State, Principal Secretary of Health and Family Welfare Department Arti Ahuja informed that three Government medical colleges and hospitals, 32 district headquarters hospitals (DHHs), 27 sub-division hospitals, 377 community health centres, 226 primary health centres and 79 other hospitals besides 6,688 health sub-centres are now functional.
While seven more Government medical colleges are being established in Balasore, Baripada, Koraput, Balangir, Keonjhar, Puri and Kalahandi, she said, work on five colleges is in full swing and construction of the remaining two at Keonjhar and Kalahandi will start soon. The Government is also planning a 100-bed cardiac unit at Jharsuguda besides two more medical colleges to be set up by MCL and NTPC at Talcher and Sundargarh respectively.
Since the footfall of patients has increased manifold in the last six years, the Government has initiated several steps including filling up vacant posts of doctors and other para-medical staff, distribution of free medicines and anti-cancer drugs under Niramaya scheme, free day-care chemo at seven DHHs and computerisation of blood banks, Ahuja added.
Among others, Director of NHM Shalini Pandit, Managing Director of Odisha State Medical Corporation RP Singh, Director (Public Health) KC Dash, Director (Family Welfare) Binod Mishra and Director (DMET) Prakash Mohapatra were present.