BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday inaugurated 67 Ama hospitals across 15 districts in the second phase. With this, so far 140 Ama hospitals have been established in the state at an expenditure of Rs 700 crore.
The chief minister also dedicated a 300-bed district headquarters hospital at Sonepur, cardiac care hospital at Jharsuguda and other health facilities across the state. He announced during the next five years (between 2023 and 2028), 1,858 government hospitals in the state will be brought under the initiative for which Rs 3,300 crore will be spent. Work on transformation of 149 government hospitals to Ama hospitals is going on.
Asserting the state government is committed to provide better healthcare to people, the chief minister said the Ama hospital initiative was launched basing on proposals received during the district visits of 5T chairman VK Pandian and feedback received through ‘Mo Sarkar’.
The chief minister said the state government has appointed 4,000 doctors and 3,700 nurses in the last one year to make better healthcare accessible to the people of the state. Stating all citizens are being provided treatment free of cost in government hospitals, he said that Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) has turned into a model for other states.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Niranjan Pujari said common citizens are now getting the same services in government hospitals as those offered at private hospitals. 5T chairman VK Pandian said infrastructure, basic facilities for patients and the service delivery system have been improved under the 5T initiative of the government in the hospitals.