Known for its poor health indicators, Odisha has made its way to become an ‘Achiever State’ in the country with sharp decline in Infant Mortality Rate between 2005 and 2020, second highest point decline in Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in the country between 2015-17 and 2018-20, said , state minister for health and family welfare on Thursday.
Listing out the achievements of the state, the minister said Odisha has logged the highest Immunization Coverage in the country (90.5 per cent: NFHS-5); the highest decline of 94 per cent in malaria in the country. Besides, it stands second in rank in the country for tuberculosis reduction; and has recorded Institutional delivery of 92.2 per cent (NFHS-5).
“The state has received worldwide recognition and appreciation for COVID management. Despite lockdown, we scaled up our oxygen production facilities not only to meet our own requirement but also supplied to many other states facing a severe shortage of Oxygen, enabling them to save a large number of lives,” he added.
The state government has transformed the SCB Medical College & Hospital into an AIIMS Plus category hospital by introducing BSKY Smart Health Cards and launching Mukhya Mantri Bayu Swasthya Seva (air health services).
A total sum of Rs 16,048 crore has been proposed for public health care, which is about 27 per cent increase over previous year and about 3 times of the allocation in 2017-18. It amounts to 7 per cent of the state budget.
The state government has introduced a new scheme under Health Sector AMA Hospital which has an ambitious target to transform 147 health facilities in a record period of 9 months, with an outlay of Rs 750 crore in the Budget Estimates for 2023-24.
Under this scheme, the Physical Health Infrastructure, basic patient amenities and service delivery system in the public health facilities, i.e. Community Health Centres, Sub-District Hospitals and District HeadQuarter Hospitals will be upgraded.
To ensure all public health facilities, required number of doctors and paramedics, nearly 4000 doctors have been recruited in the last 5 years alone, and over 5000 doctors are expected to be recruited in 2023-24.
The state is laying enormous emphasis on creation and expansion of health care infrastructure across the State. In the past six years, the state has established seven new medical colleges at Balasore, Baripada, Bolangir, Koraput, Puri, Keonjhar and Sundergarh, and two new Post Graduate Institutes at Acharya Harihar Cancer hospital, Cuttack and Capital Hospital, Bhubaneswar, he concluded.