Odisha: New building of District Headquarters Hospital inaugurated

DHENKANAL: Health Minister Pratap Jena on Saturday dedicated the 300-bed new building of the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) to public and assured best healthcare facilities for poor patients.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said now the advanced facilities, including chemotherapy and radiotherapy, will be available free of cost for patients in the district.

Children below the age of 18 years will get all kinds of facility inside the DHH and outside under Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK). Similarly, the State Government has targeted to make Odisha blind-free within five years under 'Sumitra' scheme. Pofessional eye care institutions like LV Prasad have been roped in to provide handholding support, he added.

He also informed that the Health and Family Welfare Department has initiated several steps to fill up 2,073 doctor posts in various DHHs. The department has already released ` one crore for upgradation of Hindol hospital, while separate funds have been placed for Kamakshyanagar sub-divisional hospital, Jena added. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had laid foundation stone in 2013 for the building which was constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 43 crore.

Dhenkanal MP Tathagata Satpathy urged the Minister to use the old building of the DHH as a trauma centre and for which, he will sanction money from his MPLAD fund. Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Mallick, Transport and Commerce Minister Nrusingh Sahoo and local MLA Saroj Kumar Samal urged Jena to set up a city hospital and a new medical college in Dhenkanal. 

Among others, Collector Nikhil Pawan Kalyan and Chief District Medical and Public Health Officer Dr Basudev Behera were present.