More features for AIIMS Bhubaneswar announced

Dr Harsh Vardhan assures Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik of central health support

“I want to see AIIMS Bhubaneswar develop into the most modern hospital in India, bigger and better than AIIMS Delhi,” Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Health Minister, told reporters in the Odisha capital today. He went on to make ten significant announcements which underscore the government’s commitment. These are: *An integrated treatment facility for patients combining AYUSH and allopathic medication and techniques. *A 100-bed, super-speciality Mental Health and Neurosciences Centre. *A 100-bed super-speciality Nephrology Centre with dialysis and kidney transplant facilities. *A Cancer Super-Speciality centre, with 100 beds. *Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, another 100-bed super-speciality facility. *A brand new Department of Occupational and Environmental Health. *A Department of Geriatric Medicine. *AIIMS Bhubaneswar’s ‘satellite’ in Balasore to be a 300-bed multi-speciality hospital. It is coming up on a 25 acre plot provided by the state government. * Balasore unit to have on its campus a School of International Public Health in collaboration with a reputed overseas institution. *All BSc (Nursing) students at AIIMS Bhubaneswar to henceforth receive a monthly stipend of Rs 500. The Health Minister spent over an hour inspecting the out and in-patient departments of AIIMS. He made it a point to look into minute details. His attention moved to the registration slips which are routinely handed out to new patients and he noted that the health advice printed on them were not of much value. So he recommended that every 15 days a new message should be printed. This way, he suggested to Dr A.K. Mahapatra, the Director of AIIMS Bhubaneswar and the senior officials by his side, there could be greater awareness generation of the simple truisms of healthy living. The Bhubaneswar AIIMS, much like the five others set up recently, is suffering a serious shortage of faculty and non-faculty staff. Dr Harsh Vardhan announced the clearing of decks for a recruitment drive beginning August 1. “We have only 65 filled faculty positions in each AIIMS at the present time, a shortfall of 250. So I have decided to hire on contractual basis for the first two years because we need to get the facilities functional fast,” he told reporters. About recruitment to faculty and non-faculty positions, the Minister said he has decided to give the Director of each of the AIIMS the authority to chair selection committee meetings. The system of getting officials from other Institutions to chair the interview sessions has, effectively, been discontinued. In the afternoon the Health Minister spend some time with the students and inspected their living quarters. He noted that large neon signs were necessary on the exterior of the hospital.                             Source:-PIB