BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday, when he turned 74, announced expansion of the district headquarters hospital at Phulbani in Kandhamal district to a medical college and hospital. This would be the first medical college in the undivided district.
Announcing a slew of health infrastructure development measures, the Chief Minister said, the State Government’s endeavour is to set up one medical college in each of the erstwhile undivided districts.
“In that backdrop, I announce that a Government Medical College and Hospital will be set up at Phulbani. The number of beds will be increased to 500 and a composite campus will be planned,” he added.
The decision was taken on the basis of visit reports of ‘Mo Sarkar’ teams to six districts. Naveen also announced a new 200-bedded district hospital in Boudh along with an additional building with 100 beds in Nayagarh District Hospital.
Similarly, Kalahandi District Hospital will have additional 100 beds in a new building.
For the convenience of attendants, all district hospitals will have rest sheds, he added.
This apart, `15 lakh will be sanctioned to all Rogi Kalyan Samities from Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) for patient welfare and innovations.
In addition, `10 lakh will be sanctioned to districts for promotion of blood donation activities, he said, adding that ambulance and ‘mahaprayana’ service will be added to five districts, including Rayagada and Nuapada.
Naveen said during his interaction with people, he has been urged to continue ‘Mo Sarkar’ initiative and expand it to other departments. “Let me assure the people - ‘Mo Sarkar’ as an empowerment initiative will be further strengthened. It will be expanded to five more departments by December 1 and by March 5, 2020, all departments of the Government will be covered,” the Chief Minister added. After launching the ‘Mo Sarkar’ initiative on October 2, the Chief Minister had announced measures for infrastructure development in health sector in Malkangiri, Koraput and Nabarangpur districts.