SAMBALPUR: Inauguration of the super speciality building at Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR), Burla has been postponed again, for the third time, dealing a blow to the region’s strained healthcare system.
The event, scheduled for March 22 was put off following cancellation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit, leaving locals disappointed. The two previous postponements were on November 18 and December 29 last year.
The 222-bed facility, including 50 in intensive care, is designed to strengthen VIMSAR’s existing medical infrastructure. The building will house nine departments with five new ones including gastroenterology, clinical hematology, endocrinology, plastic surgery, and paediatric surgery alongside four existing departments of neurology, neurosurgery, urology, and nephrology. Additional doctors have already been appointed for these specialty departments.
VIMSAR, which serves the entire western Odisha region, currently operates with a severe shortage of just 20 ICU beds, making it difficult to accommodate critically ill patients. The new facility would add 50 more ICU beds, providing much-needed relief.
Similarly, the nephrology department’s five dialysis units would be supplemented by 12 additional units improving care for patients with kidney ailments. With the building still non-functional, patients are forced to seek treatment at private hospitals, adding to their out-of-pocket expenditure.
Asked about the status of the inauguration, collector Siddheshwar Baliram Bondar said the administration is yet to receive a new date for inauguration. He assured regular healthcare services would not be affected as departments are operating from different blocks but admitted that critical services can only begin after the building is inaugurated and made functional.
The project which began in 2014, was envisioned as a state-of-the-art medical facility with nine specialty departments to address growing healthcare needs of western Odisha and neighbouring states and the repeated delays have drawn widespread criticism.
With the region’s healthcare system already stretched thin, stake-holders have urged authorities to expedite the building’s opening, even without a high-profile political inauguration. Local residents have suggested a virtual inauguration to make the building functional at the earliest.