Bhubaneswar: Odisha is striving hard to provide proper medical care to COVID-19 patients in the state. The third COVID-19 hospital was inaugurated by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik via video-conferencing at SOA (Campus 2) here Monday. The hospital will have 500 beds with a special ICU ward comprising 20 beds. The facility will be managed by SUM Medical College & Hospital and will be supported by Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL).
Interacting with the doctors and staff of the hospital during the inauguration, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik thanked them for the commitment and untiring efforts to serve the people during the global pandemic. Naveen Patnaik also thanked Union Ministers Prahalad Joshi and Dharmendra Pradhan for their support and MCL for sponsoring this facility for the people of Odisha. He also appreciated the efforts of the SOA management for setting up the COVID-19 facility in record time.
Odisha has been a leader in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. It all started with the Chief Minister’s ‘Wash-Your-Hand Campaign’ which was also promoted by Speaker of the Odisha Assembly SN Patro, ministers, opposition leaders and MLAS. Norms like social distancing has been strictly enforced by the Odisha government to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Two other Covid hospitals have also been kept ready in the state to fight against the deadly coronavirus. They are a 500-bedded facility at KIIMS here and the 125-bed isolation ward in Ashwini Hospital at Cuttack. In fact at present most of the coronavirus affected patients are being treated at the Ashwini Hospital.
Other than these two, the Sundargarh district administration has set up a 200-bed facility for COVID-19 patients with the help of Hi Tech Medical College and Hospital. The total bed capacity for COVID-19 patients is 1,345 at present.
It was also announced during the inauguration that the Odisha government has started work to set up 4,00,000 isolation bed facilities in 7,000 panchayats. The government is also going to set up two dedicated COVID-19 at Angul and Kendrapara in association with SUM Hospital.
Among others present during the inauguration were Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy, Development Commissioner Suresh Chandra Mohapatra and senior police officials.
PNN