ROURKELA: Post rural and urban elections hullabaloo, the demand for Odisha’s second AIIMS at Sundargarh town seems to have fallen silent even as the partially functional Ispat PG Institute & Super Speciality Hospital (IPGISSH) here has reportedly failed to treat critical patients.
Thirteen months after the RSP’s IPGISSH was launched by President Ramnath Kovind in March 2021, only OPD services of few departments are operating for few hours daily with help of a couple of part-time super specialists and a few borrowed doctors from the RSP-run Ispat General Hospital (IGH).
This has impacted about 22.47 lakh population in the tribal-dominated Sundargarh district and lakhs others in adjacent districts who remain deprived of advanced healthcare facilities in the region.To deal with financial and operational responsibilities, the RSP had formed Rourkela Ispat Trust (RIT) but it reportedly failed to recruit super specialist doctors and find an operation and maintenance partner to run the IPGISSH.
Former General Secretary of Steel Executives’ Federation of India Bimal Bisi said, “For past four years I have been repeatedly pursing the Prime Minister’s Office and the Union Health Ministry for takeover of the IPGISSH by AIIMS, but to no avail.”
Sources said the BJD government’s proposal to set up Odisha’s second AIIMS using the newly-constructed NTPC Medical College & Hospital at Sundargarh town lacked sincerity and substance. It was only aimed at scoring electoral gains which the BJD grabbed with both hands in the recent polls.
The BJD knew the Central government would not accept the proposal. Since it was bound by an agreement with the NTPC, the State government initiated measures to technically start the NTPCMCH from September. It could have recommended takeover of the RSP’s IPGISSH by AIIMS benefitting the large population in the area, the sources added.