BERHAMPUR : Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik unveiled the new campus of SUM Hospital at Sitalapalli on the outskirts of the city here on Wednesday.
The hospital, an initiative of Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA) group of institutions, will initially have 200 beds which will subsequently be expanded to 500 beds. It will offer advanced healthcare facilities and cutting-edge technology at affordable cost. The new facility will extend 24x7 emergency services to patients.
Addressing on the occasion, Naveen said the new SUM Hospital will provide advanced health services to people near their homes. Besides, foundation stone has been laid for ACME and AVADA units which will come up in Gopalpur industrial corridor. These units will pave way for industrialisation of the district and create new employment opportunities for thousands of local youths, he said.
“Odisha has been placed at second position in the country in investment and many international companies in IT sector are opening their units in the state. Besides, Odisha has earned a niche in disaster management and sports and games. The 5T programme has transformed education and health sectors in the state,” added the CM who was greeted by SOA founder president Prof Manojranjan Nayak.
SUM Hospital will have specialty and super-speciality departments. Eminent healthcare experts, trained overseas and in reputed medical institutions of the country, will provide treatment to patients.
The inaugural ceremony was attended by 5T chairman VK Pandian, Rajya Sabha member Manas Mangaraj and vice-president of SOA Saswati Das among others.
SOA, a deemed to be university, runs the Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS) and SUM Hospital at Bhubaneswar which was ranked 16th among medical colleges in the country, by National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in 2023.
Earlier on January 21, the CM had inaugurated a new SUM campus at Phulnakhara on NH-16 between Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.
Earlier, the CM addressed a public meeting at Sheragada and announced Odisha government’s decision to accord notified area council (NAC) status for Sheragada panchayat. He also inaugurated a police station at Belagaon.
Naveen spent around two hours in Ganjam and laid foundation stones for several projects of various departments.