BHUBANESWAR: With Tata Trusts developing cold feet regarding a proposed cancer hospital near Cuttack for which it had signed an MoU with the Odisha government in 2018, the state is now planning an alternative institution in Bhubaneswar.
An entrepreneur couple from the state has come forward to donate Rs 200 crore for the Rs 750 crore project to be established on 40 acres of land in Info Valley, the new IT hub on the capital’s outskirts. “A Bangalore-based hospital group will be partnering with the government on the project, which will be a 500-bed comprehensive cancer centre in eastern India,” a government source said. The hospital is proposed to be named after the couple.
While final presentation was made before senior government functionaries recently, the blueprint is almost final. “The government is likely to make a formal announcement about it later this month when a tripartite MoU will be signed between the health department, the hospital partner and the philanthropist couple,” a senior government official said.
Additional chief secretary (health) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra, when contacted, declined to comment on the project. “Let’s wait for some time. Cancer care is a focus area for the government,” Mohapatra said. However, multiple sources in the health department confirmed the development about the upcoming tertiary care cancer hospital.
Besides the hospital in Info Valley, the state government is planning budgetary allocation this year for six cancer care centres in various districts with facilities of radiotherapy and advanced diagnostic techniques. This apart, the health department on Wednesday wrote to the works department to include expansion of Acharya Harihar Post Graduate Institute of Cancer, Cuttack, with the SCB Medical College expansion plan. The health department has written that the existing Red Cross campus and adjacent government land in Police Colony may be used for expansion of the cancer centre from the current 220 beds to 500 beds. Around 10 acres of land will be available for the expansion.
It must be mentioned that in May 2018, Tata Trusts had signed an MoU with the state government to establish a hospital similar to the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, near Cuttack. The MoU was signed by then health secretary Pramod Kumar Meherda and Tata Trusts managing trustee R Venkataramanan. Though the Tata Trusts is yet to formally withdraw from the deal, government sources said it is only a matter of time.
Rs 500 crore for SCB expansion
Bhubaneswar: The state government is planning to make a budgetary provision of Rs 500 crore for the expansion of SCB Medical College and Hospital for the 2021-22 fiscal. The health department has approved the redevelopment plan, a letter written by additional chief secretary (health) to the works department shows.
In the first phase, the government plans to expand the hospital with an estimated cost of Rs 3,500 crore, increasing the strength of beds from 1,800 to 3,500 by 2024. The final plan is to take the number of beds to 5,000.
The government is planning five new hostels to accommodate 2,200 students and 1,280 residential units for doctors and other staff members. An existing students’ hostel will be converted into a dharamshala for 600 people (attendants of patients). Another new dharamshala of 500 beds on 1.5 acres of land and a budget hotel on another 1.5 acres would also be built