Harsh Vardhan visits Odisha
“Odisha has done well in keeping the maternal and child death rate low. I want to keep upgrading its hospital and medical education infrastructure and hope to have fruitful discussions in this regard with the Chief Minister and Health Minister,” the Minister said.
The Minister said he was happy that the Medical Council of India has agreed this week to increase the number of MBBS seats at Cuttack’s SCB Medical College.
“I will personally follow up on the issue of non-denial of permission to the ones in MKCG, Berhampore and VSS, Burla,” he said.
The Health Ministry is concerned over the drop in this year’s intake of MBBS aspirants all over India, especially in Odisha which the Minister pointed out has only one doctor for over 1,740 population. Before leaving New Delhi he said he would assure the Odisha government of his utmost cooperation in this regard.
Shortly after assuming office, Harsh Vardhan had instructed the Ministry’s officials to begin work on converting five district hospitals of the state into medical college-cum-hospitals.
The central government will bear 90 percent of the cost and the remainder will be paid for by the state government.
The five hospitals, all with over 200 beds, are at Puri, Baripada, Koraput, Balasore and Bolangir.
They are to have 100-seat medical colleges soon, the Minister announced.
The chief highlight of Harsh Vardhan’s visit will be an inspection of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Bhubaneswar.
“It is the most advanced among the six new AIIMS which have come up over the past two years and I am thinking of expansion of its facilities,” he said.
The present capacity of AIIMS Bhubaneswar is 170 beds, which will be doubled within a month. A special recruitment drive will be conducted shortly for appointment of specialists for the cardiology, nephrology, endocrinology and other departments.
“Funds are no problem. I will request the state government for additional land adjacent to the present campus,” Harsh Vardhan said.
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