In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in the country, the Odisha government on Thursday, 26 March, signed agreements with private medical colleges for setting up two COVID-19 hospitals in the state capital.
The new hospitals are likely to come up by 15 April, an official said, adding that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has directed to provide state-of-the-art facilities for treatment of coronavirus-affected patients.
The state government signed two tripartite agreements with SUM and KIIMS Medical Colleges to set up two 950-bedded state level hospitals in Bhubaneswar for treatment of COVID-19 patients.
The SUM Hospital has agreed to create a 500-bed special wing with 20 ICUs, while KIIMs Hospital will have 450 beds.
The state-run Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and Central PSU Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) will provide the CSR funding for the purpose.
The first agreement signed by the state government was represented by Health Secretary NB Dhal, MD of OMC, Vyneel Krishna and KIIMS Management to set up a 450-bed hospital.
The second agreement was signed by Dhal, S S Panda of MCL and SUM Hospital Management to set up a 500-bed hospital with ICU facilities.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik congratulated the partners and thanked OMC and MCL for coming forward in the interest of the people of the state.
According to official sources, the state government feels that the facilities available in the state were inadequate to handle the highly infectious disease like COVID-19.
Even developed countries such as Italy and USA having matured healthcare systems, have found it difficult to respond to this unprecedented crisis, the official said.
The global experience shows that COVID-19 patients need to be put under observation and treated in a separate hospital instead of a general hospital in order to minimise the chance of transmission to others, he said.
The chief minister has also directed the health department to set up similar facilities for COVID-19 cases in other parts of the state.
The state government currently has provisions for suspected COVID-19 patients in all the state-run medical colleges and 30 district headquarters hospitals.
This apart, the state has also developed special quarantine facilities in above 6,000 gram panchayats across the state.
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