Affordable healthcare services on the cards in Odisha

The State government has chalked out a detailed plan for establishment of affordable healthcare facilities in PPP mode in 10 priority districts in the first phase.

BHUBANESWAR: The State government has chalked out a detailed plan for establishment of affordable healthcare facilities in PPP mode in 10 priority districts in the first phase.

While US-based International Finance Corporation (IFC) is providing technical assistance to the Government in setting up the project besides helping to create conditions to attract private investment, construction of hospitals will be completed within a year of signing the agreement with the partner organisations.

A health official said 10 locations, where the hospitals are to be set up in the first phase, are being finalised. "The locations will be divided in three clusters. The Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation has identified land for the proposed health facilities to function on a decentralised model," he added.   

The facilities will provide cost-effective, quality and efficient healthcare services to ensure better health outcomes, especially for the economically disadvantaged. The project structure will be dovetailed with the State Health Policy.  

With 83 per cent of Odisha's population being rural, the project will have a major beneficial impact on the provision of primary and preventive care services to the people, especially in interiors and rural areas, by strengthening the health infrastructure in small towns across the State.

The hospitals coming up under the project will be empanelled under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY), Biju Krushak Kalyan Yojana (BKKY), Odisha State Treatment Fund (OSTF) and other Government insurance schemes and adhere to the guidelines of the schemes for covered beneficiaries.

Since the Health and Family Welfare Department or the National Health Mission does not have the expertise to oversee such a large scale affordable healthcare project, it was decided that the Planning and Coordination Department would nominate a nodal officer to monitor it.

On bidding criteria, the IFC has suggested that the project shall be structured with a fixed capital expenditure upto 30 per cent of the project cost.

Health Secretary Pramod Kumar Meherda said depending on the requirement, the proposed hospitals will be of 50-bed to 200-bed capacity. "Once set up, the low cost primary/secondary care hospitals across the State at various district headquarters will offer decent quality care at affordable prices," he added.

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