BALASORE: The Fakir Mohan Medical College and Hospital (FMMCH) was dedicated to people of North Odisha by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday. This is the seventh State Government-run MCH.
With the new MCH, the number of medical seats in the State has gone up to 1,050 from 321 in 2000, said the Chief Minister, adding that the objective of his Government is ‘Sustha Odisha, Sukhi Odisha’. He spoke about the initiatives being taken by State Government to provide quality healthcare to people including the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana under which, people can avail annual health coverage upto Rs five lakh per family in all Government medical colleges and hospitals and 8,500 State-run health facilities besides 208 empanelled private hospitals.
Naveen said 14 students from Balasore have taken admission in the MCH besides those from other parts of the State and the country. A total of 99 students including 43 girls have enrolled for MBBS in the MCH which will offer courses on Anatomy, Physiology, Bio-Chemistry and Community Medicine for now.
Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey said the Centre has been taking steps to upgrade district headquarters hospitals in Odisha to MCHs. “The Centre has sanctioned Rs 558.6 crore for MCHs that were approved for Balasore, Baripada, Balangir, Koraput and Puri,” he said.
State’s 7th Govt medical college opens in Balasore
It has been decided to establish one medical college each under Bhadrak, Jajpur and Dhenkanal parliamentary constituencies, he added.Choubey requested Naveen to identify land for the proposed medical colleges and also requested the Chief Minister to implement Ayushman Bharat scheme in Odisha.
The Chief Minister had laid foundation stone for the MCH at Remuna on October 28, 2014 and the district administration provided 22.86 acres of land for construction of classrooms, laboratory and administrative building. The District Headquarters Hospital will be utilised for clinical activities.
After the MCH, Balasore district will have the satellite centre of AIIMS-Bhubaneswar, the foundation stone of which was laid by Union Health Minister JP Nadda recently. An amount of Rs 35 crore will be spent for construction of the centre for which, the State Government has earmarked 25 acres of land.AIIMS-Bhubaneswar is already operating its temporary outpatient department on the campus of Integrated Test Range of DRDO since last year. Among others, Health Minister Pratap Jena was present.