Kendrapara: Congress party workers Wednesday took out a motorcycle rally in Odisha’s Kendrapara town and staged a dharna in front of the office of the Collector here demanding establishment of a medical college and hospital in the district.
During the last election, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and other ruling BJD leaders had promised to establish a government medical college in the coastal district. But after the poll, they “failed” to keep up the promise though various districts have been sanctioned medical colleges and hospitals, said Ganeswar Behera, a senior Congress leader and former minister.
More than half of sanctioned doctors posts have been lying vacant in the district for long. As a result, the health system is on the verge of breakdown, he alleged.
Due to the non-availability of doctors in government hospitals, villagers are dependent on quacks in many rural areas, Behera claimed.
It is high time on the part of the government to establish a medical college in Kendrapara district to provide better health service to the people, he said.
The protesting Congress leaders later presented a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister to the Collector seeking fulfilment of their demand at the earliest.
PTI