ROURKELA: The hopes of people of Rourkela over takeover of the RSP-run Ispat General Hospital (IGH) by All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have been dashed with the Odisha government pitching for the premier medical college and hospital at Sundargarh town.
State Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy has written to the Centre requesting for establishment of an AIIMS at Sundargarh town by utilising the newly-constructed NTPC Medical College and Hospital (MCH). Incidentally, the 700-bed IGH is being developed as Ispat Post-Graduate Medical Institute and Super Speciality Hospital. The first phase construction work of the super speciality hospital is likely to be completed in a month with Central funding of around Rs 300 crore.
On October 26, RSP executives’ association president Bimal Bisi had written to the Prime Minister’s Office reiterating the demand for takeover of IGH by AIIMS. Bisi argued that SAIL has no expertise to run such a big hospital and with RSP facing loss, it is not feasible to run IGH by spending nearly Rs 90 crore including Rs 32 crore towards salary expenditure annually. Even if not AIIMS, the IGH should be brought under any autonomous institution of the Central government to benefit the poor population, Bisi said.
President of RSP’s recognised trade union BMS-affiliated Rourkela Ispat Karkhana Karmachari Sangh HS Bal said SAIL is mulling to create a trust to run IGH after after being unsuccessful in finding a suitable corporate partner.
If AIIMS takes over IGH then around six lakh population of Rourkela city along with people of nearby districts and adjacent pockets of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh would benefit from it.The population of Sundargarh district headquarter town is only around 60,000 and setting up an AIIMS there would not be a wise decision, he opined.
Sundargarh town is directly accessible only through State Highway 10, but it has the added advantage of the nearby Jharsuguda airport. On the other hand, Rourkela is well connected with rail and road and air connectivity is expected within next six months.