Bhubaneswar, Aug. 6: The state government today signed an MoU with six hospitals located outside the state to provide quick and quality medical facilities to poor people from the backward areas of the state.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik said the arrangement will benefit people of the state, particularly those of the erstwhile KBK districts due to their proximity to Visakhapatanam in Andhra Pradesh and Raipur in Chhattisgarh.
The six hospitals that signed MoUs with the state government are Care Hospital, Apollo Hospital and Seven Hills Hospital, all in Viskhatapatnaum, apart from Escort Heart Centre and Naryan Hrudayalaya Hospital in Raipur.
Officials said after the introduction of Odisha Treatment Fund Scheme on December 15, 2011, the demand for government health institutions has increased substantially. It has lead to a long waiting list for treatment, especially in cases of specialised treatments related to heart, lungs and kidney.
“A conscious decision was taken to empanel good private hospitals both within and outside the state as referral hospitals for specialised treatment,” said Naveen.
With this, the number of such referral hospitals has gone up to 21 because the state government had earlier signed an MoU with 15 private and corporate hospitals in the state. The leading ones among are Kalinga Hospital, Aditya Care, Ayush, Apollo, Hi-Tech, KIMS and SUM Hospital in Bhubaneswar.
The Odisha State Treatment Fund is a flagship scheme of the state government launched on December 15, 2011. Below poverty line people and those with annual income of less than Rs 40,000 in rural areas and Rs 60,000 in urban areas are eligible for treatment under this fund.
“Assistance of up to Rs 3 lakh is being provided for treatment. However, the patient has to be referred to the referral hospitals from a government hospital,” said health minister Damador Rout.
The private hospitals would provide treatment in tune with the central government’s health scheme guidelines with treatment cost to follow the Central Government Health Scheme rates.
