Team of ten to help Odisha government in transforming SCB Medical College and Hospital

BHUBANESWAR:  Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday picked a group of 10 eminent doctors of India, seven of them Padma award winners, to advise the Odisha Government in transforming SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack, State’s biggest health facility in the public sector. Office of Chief Minister announced the doctors’ group and said they would be the brain behind converting SCB Medical College into a world-class health institution. The Government had, earlier in November, declared its intention to turn SCB into an AIIMS plus category institution as part of its 5T Initiatives and backed it up with Rs 1,000 crore allocation in the Budget 2020-21.

The advisory group includes some of country’s top names in various disciplines such as Dr Ramakanta Panda, Dr Devi Shetty, Dr K Srinath Reddy, Prof Subrat Acharya, Prof Mukut Minz, Dr Rajan Badwe, Prof Digambar Behera, Prof Jagat Narula, Dr GN Rao and Prof Purna Chandra Mohapatra. Four of them are alumnus of SCBMCH.

The Government has already begun the groundwork to create new infrastructure for SCB Medical College by identifying and clearing space. The administration is looking to bring in new ideas in health services delivery in the 76-year-old health institution which attracts more than 1.5 lakh patients to its OPDs every month. Since SCB Medical College’s transformation plan under Naveen Patnaik Government’s new governance initiatives is billed as the ‘symbol of hope’ for millions, the Government has brought on board the eminent doctors to draw from their multi-layered experience in health service across disciplines.

Group of 10 doctors to transform SCB

Of the ten, Dr Ramakanta Panda, Prof Subrat Acharya, Prof Digambar Behera and Prof Purna Chandra Mohapatra are products of SCBMCH. Director Medical Education and Training Dr CBK Mohanty will be Member-Convenor of the group. Prof Acharya, now President of AIIMS-Bhubaneswar, felt that Government’s decision to transform SCBMCH into a world-class institute is a bold step and it presents him an opportunity to contribute to his alma mater.

“It is an opportunity to give back to my alma mater. We have to create a good environment with top infrastructure. Our doctors are very talented and need proper guidance. People will not go outside for treatment if they get advanced and quality health care here. We must do our best to see the institution, which made us what we are today, touch new heights,” he added.

Thanking the Chief Minister for the responsibility, Prof Mohapatra said the participation of the group will not be limited to meeting only. “I will certainly try my best to transform SCBMCH into a world-class health care institution,” he said.

Dr Panda is now Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Asian Heart Institute which he set up in 2002.  Professor Behera is Head of the Department in Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh and founder president of the Indian Study for the Study of Lung Cancer.Similarly, Dr Shetty is founder of Narayana Hrudayalaya while Dr Reddy is currently President of Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI). One of India’s top names in kidney transplantation, Prof Minz is a former Head of Department of Renal Transplant Surgery, PGI, Chandigarh. Dr Badwe is Medical Director of Tata Cancer Hospital while Dr Narula is the Associate Dean for Global Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr Rao is Director of LV Prasad Eye Institute.