PSUs, corporates plan to set up 7 hospitals in state

Times of India, Nov 26, 2013
Minati Singha,TNN | Nov 26, 2013, 12.37 AM IST
BHUBANESWAR: Health sector will get a major boost in the state with central PSUs corporate houses planning to set up five super-specialty hospitals and two medical colleges soon.

The National Thermal Power Corporation is likely to sign an MoU with the state government to set up a medical college and hospital at Sundargarh. Similarly, Mahanadi Coalfields Limited(MCL) has also started processes to set up a medical college and hospital at Talcher. Other major corporate houses like Nalco and Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) have also proposed to set up medical colleges in the state, said health minister Damodar Rout here on Monday.

"We are planning to have a separate health university as there are large number of proposals to set up medical colleges in the state. These institutes will help in bridging the gap of inadequate trained manpower and infrastructure," Rout said.

According to sources, NTPC will invest about Rs 400 crore in developing a 300-bed medical college and hospital. For the medical college in Talcher, MCL has already got first phase land clearance and waiting for forest clearance from the Centre for its hospital.

"Acute shortage of trained manpower and inadequate infrastructure are the two major challenges that has been bothering Odisha's health sector for long. Since 1962, the state government did not take any step in setting up a fourth government medical college in the state, as a result the gap has widened over the years," said health secretary P K Mohapatra.

He said the state government is also coming up with two medical colleges in public-private partnership (PPP) mode in Rayagada and Balangir, while construction of another medical college and hospital in Keonjhar in PPP mode is on. Each of these medical colleges will have 300-bed hospitals. Besides, the Centre is considering the long-standing demand of setting up medical colleges at Balasore, Baripada, Koraput and Balangir.

"The four new government nursery colleges at Sundargarh, Dhenkanal, Kandhamal and Kalahandi having 60 seats each will help in churning out more trained manpower," Mohapatra added.

In addition to this at least half- a-dozen super-specialty hospitals have been proposed by different corporate houses in the state. Tata Steel has decided to come up with two multispecialty hospitals at Gopalpur and Kalinga Nagar. "The hospital at Gopalpur will have an estimated investment of Rs 300 crore while the hospital at Kalinganagar is a part of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity of the company," informed Mohapatra.

Similarly, Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) and Essels Mining have proposed to set up 200-bed hospitals each at Barbil in Keonjhar district. "Along with all these initiatives by the private sector All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) alone will add 900 beds once it becomes operational. So efforts are on to improve health facilities," Mohapatra said.