Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government plans to set up a medical college in the industrial-belt of Jajpur district.

According to the plan, the existing district headquarters hospital at Jajpur will be upgraded to a medical college. The district is known for a number of industrial houses, including the Tata's Kalinga Nagar steel plant.

Health secretary Pramod Meherda said: "The aim is to address the dearth of medical professionals and cater to the heath care needs of the people of the area."

The state government has asked the collector to arrange 20 acres on the district headquarters hospital premises, and in case of non-availability, identify land within 10km radius of the town. "A letter to this effect was sent to the Jajpur collector on Friday, and he was asked to submit the status within three days," said a health department official.

Health minister Pratap Jena said: "The government aims to set up nine medical colleges in Odisha. We have already set up five."

Stating that money was not a problem to create medical infrastructure, Jena said: "We are trying to manage the faculties, and subsequently, another medical college will come up in the next phase. By 2020, all medical colleges will be operational."

Out of the nine medical colleges, seven medical colleges will be set up by the government, two government colleges will come up with the support of public sector undertakings.

Two other medical colleges are coming up in the state in Keonjhar and Kalahandi in the public-private-partnership mode.

The Tata Group is providing help for the Keonjhar medical college, while for the Kalhanadi facility, the state government has already signed an MoU with the Vedanta Group.