Rourkela: For the past two years, the Patient Facilitation Centre and Attendant Accommodation Centre (PFCCum-AAC) has been helping attendants of patients from Sundargarh district referred to the Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR) with not just accommodation, but the necessary support services required during prolonged treatment. The operation of the PFCCum-AAC, set up within the Red Cross Building of VIMSAR, has been initiated by the District Mineral Foundation, Sundargarh. It is being managed by IMTS, a NGO.
The PFC-Cum-AAC which started its operation in June 2022 out of a rented premise in Majhipalli of Sambalpur, later shifted to the Red Cross Building. The objective of the establishment of this centre is to provide support to patients and their attendants during their stay while getting treatment at VIMSAR, Burla. This centre not only provides shelter to the attendants for 10 days upon admission but also provides them food as well as recreation. This facility, in coordination with different medical institutions, takes care of patient’s treatment, diagnosis, and blood requirements as well as pharmacological. The centre is being managed by a team of 10 professionals – two cooks, two pharmacists, one accountant, two support staff, two security guards and one project co-ordinator. The 12-bed facility is equipped with a kitchen, toilets and other amenities. Till now more than 1,270 patients and their attendants have taken benefit of this set up, an official said.
Rukmini Barik of Rourkela, Jhirpani, who came to VIMSAR to attend one of her ailing relatives and availed this facility said, “Earlier, we would stay in hotels by paying anything between `300- 400 per day. We came across the project coordinator of this centre once who shifted us here,” said Rukmini. “The service at the centre was good and it reduced our expenses to a large extent,” she added.