Bhubaneswar/Cuttack, Sept 15: It has come to fore that the Odisha government has quickened the construction process which is to construct a government medical college and hospital in both Kalahandi and Keonjhar district. This information was given in a review meeting presided by the CM, Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretariat here yesterday.
The Health and Welfare Minster, Atanu Sabhyasachi Nayak informed this to the media and said that for the construction a site has been seen in Keonjhar while the tendering process has already begun. Construction would commence once the tender gets finalized. He further informed that for the construction of medical college in Keonjhar, the state government will arrange money from district mineral fund and in Kalahandi the land has been identified and as pre-decided the Vedanta Group will provide financial assistance while the remaining works will be taken up by the state government.
The minister who had attended the governing body meeting of the Acharya Harihar Regional Cancer Centre in Cuttack later in the day informed media that the construction of the second campus of the Centre will start very soon for which the 60 acres of land has been identified on the outskirts of Cuttack city and also for which Rs 27 cr has been kept aside and also an ICU unit will also be set up soon in the second campus.
The minister also informed that the state government has made an earnest request to the Medical Council of India (MCI) to give permission for opening PG Courses on Oncology. On questioning about the state government’s proposal to provide free cancer treatment to poor and needy patients to which Nayak said that a decision in this regard has been taken to set up cancer detection and screening centres in seven district headquarters hospitals and provide free chemo medicines to the patients.
