BHUBANESWAR: The State Government on Friday announced establishment of a medical college at Bhadrak and made a volte-face an hour later by issuing a clarification that the demand is being looked into.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Naba Kishore Das told mediapersons after a high-level meeting about the State Government’s decision to set up a medical college at Bhadrak.
However, about an hour later, the Information and Public Relations department issued a clarification that MLAs from the district had demanded establishment of a medical college at Bhadrak and the Minister assured that demand will be looked into.
“The Minister had assured the legislators that he would look into the demand for a medical college,” the release issued by the IPR department said.
The Minister earlier announced that the district administration has identified 25 acre of land on the outskirts of Bhadrak town and a six-storey building would be constructed on that patch of land for the proposed medical college. The construction work will start from February, he said.
However, the release said the Mother Child Hospital in Bhadrak will be converted into a 100-bed hospital and Rs 6 crore will be spent for construction of road and boundary around it.
Pressure for a medical college has been mounting for the past few months. Besides, the release maintained that the legislators had demanded that vacant post of doctors in the hospitals of the district should be filled up.