BHUBANESWAR: After successfully implementing Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY), Odisha government has conceptualised a new initiative for providing top healthcare facilities to patients living in inaccessible pockets of the State.
As part of its mission to provide free healthcare to all, the Health and Family Welfare department has decided to launch air medical service through which patients in remote corners of the State can be treated and operated by renowned specialists and surgeons from medical colleges besides getting pre and post
operative care.
The air medical service is different from the existing services in the country in which critical patients are air-lifted to health facilities for treatment. Unlike others of the kind, top surgeons and specialists will be taken to the doorsteps of the people in the remote pockets for providing specialised treatment and surgery.
Initially, it has been planned to start the service in four districts - Nuapada, Kalahandi, Nabarangpur and Malkangiri. Conceived as Mukhyamantri Bayu Swasthya Seva, the scheme yet to get a formal name is likely to be launched on April 1 on the occasion of Utkal Divas.
Though the State Government has launched many schemes and people in the inaccessible villages in the State have been provided with stretcher, bike and boat ambulance, still many of them are deprived of quality care due to the unavailability of facilities and specialist surgeons in some parts of Odisha.
A senior health official said the new initiative to bring specialist care to patients will be the first of its kind in the country. "The proposed scheme will benefit the patients, who find it difficult to come out of their districts for specialised surgery. They will get the care that is being provided at the hospitals of medical colleges," he said.
As part of the scheme, the operation theatres at the district headquarters hospital (DHH) will be augmented to conduct major surgeries. The identified patients requiring surgery will be brought to the DHH and treated, Health and Family Welfare department sources said.
A three-member team comprising Director of Health Services Dr Bijay Mohapatra, Additional Director of Medical Education and Training (DMET) Dr Umakanta Satpathy and Principal of SCB Medical College and Hospital Prof Datteswar Hota is on a three-day visit to the four districts to study the facilities available for offering the service.
"The team will submit a report on the facilities available and the need for additional equipment. If required, we will also take good surgeons from private hospitals to conduct surgeries in remote districts. Collectors have already been asked to engage healthcare workers to identify patients in their
respective districts," the official added.