Posts filed under ‘Rourkela Medical College (WODC)’
NALCO to build medical college in Koraput
BHUBANESWAR: Public sector undertaking Nalco promised the state government on Thursday to open a 100-seat medical college and 300-bed hospital in tribal-dominated Koraput district. This raises the number of medical colleges in the pipeline in the state to 12, including three by PSUs.
“Responding to the government’s proposal, Nalco has come forward to establish a 100-seat medical college in Koraput as part of its corporate social responsibility. The company will submit its detailed proposal to the government within seven days,” health minister Prasanna Acharya said.
While National Thermal Power Corporation ( NTPC) is in the process of starting a medical college in Sundargarh, Mahandi Coalfields Limited is planning one in Talcher.
“Land identification and alienation for the MCL college will be done at the earliest,” the minister said after reviewing various proposals of establishing medical colleges in the state. To meet the shortage of laboratory technicians in hospitals, the government has also requested MCL to start a DMLT training centre.
New Delhi-based OSL Group’s Centre for Joint Disorders will established a 150-seat medical college, 750-bed super-speciality hospital, a dental college and a nursing college in Bhubaneswar. The group has promised to start work within two months, the minister said.
The upcoming Sardar Rajas medical college and hospital at Jaring in Kalahandi district, being established by Selvam Education and Charitable Trust of Tamil Nadu, will start admitting students from the next academic year, the minister said.
The sDFID of UK has been preparing a report to facilitate a medical college in Balangir. Similarly, land transfer work for the proposed medical college by Sahyog Foundation in Keonjhar will be fast-tracked, the minister said.
Acharya said the government would soon examine the proposals of Basantidevi Charitable Trust and Bidyabharti Charitable Trust as well to open a medical college in Rayagada. The government has also agreed in principle to a proposal from Shankar Netralaya of Chennai to start a 200-bed eye hospital in Berhampur. The government on Tuesday asked Bangalore-based Narayana Hrudayalaya, which has taken land from the state government to establish a super-speciality hospital in Bhubaneswar, or start work or return the land. The group assured to start work by September.
Following is another report from the Samaja:
Odisha govt.’s dream proposal to establish twelve new medical colleges
Following report is from the Sambad:
State of 2011 health care in Odisha far from rosy
Following is a report from TOI:
BHUBANESWAR: Patient care going for a toss due to prolonged strike of junior doctors across all government medical colleges sums up the situation of healthcare in the state this year even as the government announced a number of new initiatives.
Around 800 house surgeons and PG students, the backbone of healthcare services for both indoor and outdoor patients in the three medical colleges, went for tool down, demanding “proper security to them during duty”. Several surgeries had to be postponed and emergency care was affected in the three apex institutions.
Junior doctors in Burla stopped work on September 5 following alleged attacks on them a day earlier on September 4. After the state announced a sine die closure of the college on September 7, the medics reassembled for an indefinite stir in the state capital on September 9. Their counterparts in Cuttack and Berhampur joined them on September 15 and 16 respectively, expressing solidarity with their demands of security, arrest of alleged main culprit Sisir Dandia and withdrawal of “false” charges against the demonstrators. Several rounds of talks with the government failed to bring back the medicos to their work and classes. Despite hectic parleys with the government, the strike went on till September 24. The Orissa high court had to intervene to end the stalemate ultimately. The HC asked the government to improve security on the campus and remove encroachments inside the Burla hospital campus.
Meanwhile, despite tall posturing by the government to have taken initiatives for several new medical college proposals, nothing concrete materialized during the year, either in private or in the government sector.
While the year saw no progress in the 2004 proposal of Western Orissa Development Council to set up a medical college in Balangir, Sahyog Healthcare and Research Foundation (SHRF) of India is yet to acquire land for its proposed college in Keonjhar. The SHRF a few days ago got some New York-based venture capitalists to invest $100 million in the project for a period of five years though.
Besides, the fate of Employees’ State Insurance Corporation’s proposed medical college at Bhubaneswar still hangs in balance with nothing more than a boundary coming up at the proposed site, government sources said. ESIC had proposed in 2008 to set up a medical college in Odisha. The state government had allotted 25 acres of land in the city for the Rs 800-crore project in 2009.
The planning and coordination department of the state government had sanctioned Rs 10 crore each for medical colleges in Rourkela, Jaring (Kalahandi district) and Balangir in public-private partnership. The government provided 25 acres of land each to these proposed colleges, being facilitated by WODC. Though the colleges in Rourkela and Jaring are in advanced stages of completion, uncertainty still prevails about their likely date of commissioning.
Similarly, the government also failed to initiate a kidney transplant facility at SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack, this year. It has now set a target of early 2012 to launch the programme.
The state government can, however, boast of at least four major initiatives such as launching the Centre-funded Janani O Sishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK), Mamata scheme for pregnant women and commissioning of the e-blood bank service this year. “It has been one of those happening years in health. Initiatives such as JSSK and Mamata were launched for pregnancy and neonatal care. We also started Dots Plus for TB patients,” said Dr Upendra Kumar Sahoo, director of health services.
Under the JSSK, the government promises to bear all expenditure related to delivery and newborn care. The free entitlements under the programme of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) include free and cashless delivery, free Caesarean Section, free treatment of sick newborns up to 30 days, exemption from user charges, free drugs and consumables, free diagnostics, free diet during stay in the health institutions (three days in case of normal delivery and seven days in case of C-section), free provision of blood, free transport from home to health institutions, free transport between facilities in case of referral as also drop back from institutions to home after 48 hours stay. “It would go a long way to reduce neonatal and maternity deaths,” the DHS said.
The state launched Mamata scheme in July, under which the government promises to give Rs 5,000 to pregnant women in villages. An estimated seven lakh pregnant women and newborn babies in rural areas would benefit from the scheme every year. As per the scheme, aid would be given to each pregnant woman in four installments. First Rs 1,500 would be paid after six months of pregnancy with registration and vaccination in an anganwadi centre. The second Rs 1,500 would be given when the newborn is three months old. The third and fourth installments of Rs 1,000 each would be paid when the newborn is six and nine months old respectively.
Critics dismiss both Mamata and JSSK, however, as pre-poll sops ahead of panchayat elections in the state in February.
Among the most commendable initiatives in the year passing by was the e-blood bank initiative. Earlier this month, the government started bar-coding of blood bags to ensure blood collected first is used first in 100% cases. The web-enabled system facilitates electronic monitoring of blood collection, testing, storage and final use or disposal. Timings of all these steps can now be known from anywhere in the blood bank network.
The electronic screening can detect professional donors as all blood banks are interlinked to eliminate professional donation, which is still around three to four per cent. “It is for the first time in the country that such an initiative was launched in blood safety,” said Mangala Prasad Mohanty, honorary secretary of Odisha branch of the Indian Red Cross Society.
Ailing health care system of Odisha: update on WODC medical colleges
Following is a report from expressbuzz:
BHUBANESWAR: The Congress on Monday walked out of the Assembly over the deteriorating health care facilities in the State. Making a statement on the admissibility of an adjournment motion notice on the issue, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Raghunath Mohanty said, in the absence of Health Minister Prasanna Acharya, doctors had been appointed during the last three years to fill up vacancies. He said 408 and 311 doctors were appointed in 2009 and 2010 respectively. The Minister said the OPSC has brought out an advertisement for regular appointment of 750 more doctors. Special recruitment drive for appointment of 353 doctors, belonging to SC and ST categories, has started. Ad hoc appointment has been given to 590 doctors in 2010 and 2011 and the process is on for engagement of 153 more, he said.
Stating that 863 beds have been increased in the three medical colleges and hospitals, the Minister said the daily allowance for food for patients has been increased from Rs 20 to Rs 50. Naba Kishore Das (Cong) said the state of health care in Government sector can be gauged from the fact that the Chief Minister had to be treated in the Apollo Hospitals instead of the Capital Hospital which is nearer to his home when he injured his leg last month. He alleged that health infrastructure has not improved despite spending hundreds of crores.
His party colleagues Prafulla Majhi and Surendra Prasad Pramanik also came down heavily on the Government for the ‘non-existent’ health services in rural areas. Raising a point of order, Leader of BJP Legislature Party K V Singhdeo advised the Government to expedite setting up of the AIIMS near Bhubaneswar. Once the AIIMS starts operation, majority of problems in the health sector will be taken care of, he said. Referring to the delay in the establishment of a medical college at Balangir, Singhdeo said the party, to which Rs 10 crore was sanctioned from the WODC, had already left. He wanted to know what action the Government has taken to recover the money. He also wanted to know the progress of the proposed medical college in Kalahandi. The BJP leader said a proper system for disposal of medical waste should be put in place. Besides, he demanded setting up of a mental asylum by the Government in view of growing number of mental patients.
Western Odisha not priority for CM: Kosal Kranti Dal (KKD)
Following report is from The Pioneer:
Kosal Kranti Dal (KKD) secretary general Baidyanath Mishra on Wednesday targeted Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik as being Bhubaneswar-centric and not at all caring for western Odisha. He said that wester Odisha was not a priority for the CM.
Mishra told reporters here that the progress of work on the Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT) at Rourkela is still sluggish even eight long years after its foundation. A couple of months back, local MLA and Minister Sarada Prasad Nayak had promised for commencement of the BPUT construction work, but it has been stopped without rhyme or reason, Mishra said.
The BPUT, which is managing more than 150 professional colleges, only has a makeshift office at the UGIE that has become a dumping yard of sacks and trunks of examination paper. The vice-chancellor and a finance officer, along with some junior executives, are running the show.
The university land in the Chhend area is gradually encroached upon by unauthorised persons as there is none to protect the land, Mishra pointed out.
So, he said, an early review of the BPUT’s progress by the Chief Minister is required so that appropriate steps are taken before its head office is finally shifted to Bhubaneswar much to “the delight of a Bhubaneswar-centric Chief Minister,” Mishra said.
On the Western Odisha Development Council; (WODC)-sponsored medical college and hospital, he urged the Government to take steps for getting the Medical Council of India’s (MCI) nod to a hi-tech medical college at Rourkela so that local aspirant students can take admission in MBBS and BDS courses. He also urged the Government to spell out the actual percentage of seat reservation made for the students of western Odisha nativity.
Mishra said Rourkela is deprived of the Commissionerate-II of the Central Excise for the last 14 years. Like the WODC headquarters in Bhubaneswar, some vested interests in the State capital are trying their best to retain this Commissionerate-II office in Bhubaneswar though the July 22, 1997 notification made it clear that the headquarters of the Bhubaneswar-II Commissionerate would be shifted to Rourkela as its jurisdiction is western Odisha.
If these demands are not heeded by the Government, the KKD would have no other option than to launch agitation, he threatened.
Mishra also demanded passenger air line facility for Jharsuguda and Rourkela and an ESIC Medical College in Sundargarh district. He said the State Government should demand another rail coach factory to be set up at Narla, Kalahandi, as promised by former Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee. This was hijacked by Naveen Patnaik elsewhere. Similarly, the Government must take early steps to start a medical college at Balangir at its own initiative.
Mishra said that from July 8 to15 a fact-finding team of the KKD would be touring various parts of western Odisha. Among others, KKD working president Sagar Singh Manki, Rourkela unit president Rama Chandra Amat and founder-member Surama Mishra were present at the news conference.
An example of Orissa govt.’s apathy towards western Orissa;Where are the WODC sponsored medical colleges?
BHUBANESWAR: Few of the proposed seven medical colleges in the state have come up till date. Three medical colleges were proposed in 2004 for western Orissa, facilitated by Western Orissa Development Council (WODC), but they are yet to see the light of day. Other subsequent proposals are still in very early stages.
The planning and coordination department sanctioned Rs 10 crore each for medical colleges in Rourkela, Jaring (Kalahandi district) and Balangir and the state government had provided 25-acre land each to these proposed colleges.
Officials said the proposed medical college at Balangir has faced a dead-end. After WODC advertised seeking private partnership for the proposed colleges, there were two responses. But both the parties failed to qualify in the technical expertise criteria.
Before this, three private parties, selected for Balangir college, quit at various stages. First, GSL Trust of Andhra Pradesh was selected for medical colleges at Balangir and Rourkela and a MoU was signed on January 31, 2004. But the MoU was cancelled since the trust did not commence work. The government signed another MoU with Sri Balaji Educational and Charitable Public Trust on October 6, 2006 for Balangir. After its delay in the start of work, the MoU was cancelled and RVS Educational Trust was selected as a private sponsor. The trust expressed its inability on February 17, 2010 to execute the project.
Work for the medical college at Jaring in Kalahandi, being undertaken by Selvam Educational and Charitable Trust, Tamil Nadu, is under way, after a MoU was signed on January 30, 2004. A 500-bed hospital was supposed to function by January 30, 2008, (five years from the date of MoU). But as of now the hospital is ready in part. While a building for the 300-bed hospital, three operation theatres and a seven-bed ICU is ready, the hostel buildings are yet to be ready.
“The outcome of the inspection by the Medical Council of India in May 2008 was not satisfactory. The trust filed a fresh application before the MCI on November 30, 2010, and the team visited the site once again in April-May,” a senior health department official said. Construction of the Rourkela college is being undertaken by Vigyan Bharati Charitable Trust after the government signed a MoU on July 4, 2008. Construction work is on. WODC officials are, however, optimistic. “Barring the Balangir college, the other two projects at Rourkela and Jaring are doing reasonably well. They should be commissioned as early as 2012,” said WODC chief executive officer Aswini Mishra.
The government is helping the Sahyog Healthcare and Research Foundation of India to open a 50-seat medical college and 150-bed hospital in Keonjhar. A MoU was signed on November 27, 2010. “We are waiting for the government to hand over possession of the land. Within six weeks after that we will commence work,” said Sahyog trustee Debasi Sahoo.
Similarly, there is proposal for MCL to start a medical college in Talcher. Besides, Mata Amritamayi Charitable Trust has shown interest in opening a medical college in the state while ESI is planning another medical college near Chandaka on the outskirts of the state capital. The state government has also decided to approach Nalco and SAIL to open medical colleges here.
The educated CM of Orissa and his apathy towards health services of tribal districts
Earlier it was reported that Orissa would establish govt. medical college at Balangir. Now, the health minister says the medical college at Balangir will be established in PPP mode. Looks like the CM is confused and he does not really understand the pathetic situation of health service in KBK. Just to remind you that the CM and health ministers were silent onlookers when cholera was spreading in KBK and many lives were lost. The CM should be held responsible for the miserable health and education services in the tribal dominated Kalahandi Balangir Koraput region.
See the following report from The Samaja:
Western Orissa Development Council (WODC) sponsored medical colleges still a distant dream
Following report is from the Samaj:
Kosal Discussion and Development Forum 