BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday launched a new initiative, the Mukhyamantri Vayu Swasthya Seva (Air Health Services) at the Biju Patnaik International Airport here to take health services to people of remote and backward areas of the State.
The service will be made available to people of four districts, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi and Nuapada in the first phase. Launching the new initiative, the Chief Minister said that people of four districts will now get improved health services.
Health and family welfare minister Naba Kishore Das said that the service will be offered free of cost to patients. He said that if required critical patients will be airlifted to Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.
A team of doctors including a cardiologist and urologist took the inaugural flight to Malkangiri. The patients were earlier selected through teleconsultations.
Neurologists, nephrologists, cardiologists from medical colleges and corporate hospitals, mainly in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, will be flown to the four district headquarters hospitals, where diagnostic facilities and operation theatres, have been created keeping in mind the specialised care. Besides, critical patients from the four districts will also be flown to hospitals in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.
The scheme will benefit people from weaker sections of society and bridge the gap in health care services.