Odisha's VIMSAR demands autonomy withdrawal for development

SAMBALPUR: Fed up with persistent roadblocks on the path of proper functioning and development of VIMSAR, authorities of the premier medical facility in Western Odisha on Wednesday requested Chief Secretary Asit Kumar Tripathy to withdraw the institute’s autonomous status.

Informing the Chief Secretary about the difficulties arising due to the existing statute under the autonomous status, Dean Braja Mohan Mishra said the authorities are unable to take some important decisions including promotion of doctors, which has been delayed for a long time, in absence of a permanent director.

Tripathy, who paid a surprise visit to VIMSAR on the day to take stock of the healthcare facilities, assured the Dean of taking necessary steps for promotion of doctors and discussed the changes needed in the existing statute of the hospital. He asked president of junior doctors association (JDA) Sanjeev Mishra to meet him at Bhubaneswar with a report on the changes required in the statute for proper functioning of VIMSAR after discussions with senior officials.

Tripathy held discussions with the Dean, Superintendent, Director-in charge and JDA president in presence of Sambalpur Collector Subham Saxena. During the meeting, Mishra raised the issue of the hospital’s new super-speciality building which will be made operational this year.

The JDA president requested the Chief Secretary for speeding up recruitment of Grade III employees as the hospital is dealing with severe staff crunch. He also apprised Tripathy about the slow pace of work on the Maternal and Child Care building. The Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) has sanctioned `50 crore and a new land has been identified near NAC college in Burla for construction of the new building.
On enquiring about the cause of delay, Tripathy found that though the land was demarcated, it has not been relinquished by the State Government. He instructed the Collector to take steps to handover the land for construction of the building.

Director in-charge Barsha Tudu requested the Chief Secretary to make provisions for improved stock of medicines at the hospital and introduce new diagnosis tests for benefit of poor patients.Tripathy also promised to take necessary steps to increase the number of beds in the ICU. Later, the Chief Secretary visited the MRI unit of the hospital to review the utilisation of the service.