File picture of Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar Shaw at a recent meeting with chief minister Naveen Patnaik

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 10: The state government is planning to set up a health university and also produce at least 3,000 doctors to meet their shortage in Odisha.

At present, the state produces around 700 doctors a year.

Health minister Damodar Rout said: “On the lines of the Biju Patnaik University of Technology, which deals with the state’s engineering colleges, the government is planning to set up a health university to regulate the medical colleges.”

The state now has eight medical colleges including three government and five private ones.

In another move to boost the state’s health infrastructure, the state government has decided to encourage private entrepreneurs to invest in this sector.

Bangalore-based biopharmaceutical major Biocon Foundation has already inked an MoU with the Odisha Trust of Technical Education and Training (OTTET) to set up e-health centres across the state.

The e-health centres will be information and communication technology-based establishments connected with all the public health centres to augment the existing health infrastructure. Unemployed youths will be employed in the diagnostic centres after being trained.

The establishment of diabetic and cancer centres in the remote parts of the state are also being planned. Both Bicon and OTTET will work together on implementing the programmes of the Universal Health Care (UHC) scheme as started by the Planning Commission and Public Health Foundation of India to provide health care for all in next 10 years.

Attempts would be made to deliver evidence-based health care to effectively deal with primary health issues as well as chronic conditions in the under-served rural and urban communities.

According to plan, the telemedicine network of OTTET will be used to not only screen health problems of the people but also treat them through tele-consultation. The centres would also be empowered to provide diagnostic services and for enabling instant evaluation through tele-medicine. Steps will also be taken to install auto-analysers at the public health centres to conduct medical pathology tests.

OTTET managing trustee K.N. Bhagat said: “ We have a plan to bring all the public health centres under the network by the end of March. Once the programme is launched, the poor people will not have to travel to the district headquarters for diagnosis. They can undergo tests at their respective public health centres.”