BHUBANESWAR: The over two-decades-long wait for the Odisha University of Health Sciences (OUHS) ended on Sunday with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik formally launching it on the birth anniversary of Biju Patnaik.
The health university has started functioning from its temporary campus here. The colleges offering undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses in health sciences starting from modern medicine to dental science, ayurveda, homoeopathy, nursing, pharmacy, physiotherapy, and other allied health sciences courses will now come under its ambit from the ensuing academic session 2023-24.
Health secretary Shalini Pandit said establishment of the health university will further add value and enhance the quality of medical education, patient care and research in the state. It will provide uniform and quality medical education in undergraduate and postgraduate courses of allopathy, homeopathy, ayurveda, nursing, lab technology and other paramedical sciences, she said.
The state has 10 government medical colleges and private medical colleges while four government medical colleges are coming up in next couple of years. Besides, it has around 200 nursing, AYUSH and pharmacy institutions.
Odisha is perhaps the only state where medical colleges are being governed by general universities with each affiliated with a separate university. Sources said the medical institutions will be affiliated with OUHS after their de-affiliation from the current universities.
The state government has appointed former dean and principal of SCB medical college and hospital Datteswar Hota as an officer on special duty to oversee initial functioning of the university. A committee has been formed to finalise initial manpower and infrastructure requirements for the university.
The government is also planning to club the syllabus and examination pattern of different universities together to introduce a uniform course pattern for different categories of medical institutions. The Health Department is searching for a 25-acre land for setting up the university’s permanent campus on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.
Proposed in the early 2000s, the by-laws and rules for the university were submitted to the government by an expert committee in 2005. After 16 years, the Assembly had given its nod to the OUHS Bill on September 3, 2021.