The healthcare scenario is set for a leap with the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) signing an MoU with Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences, a Secunderabad-based private hospital, to set up a multi-specialty hospital and upgrade five existing dispensaries.
The Krishna institute chain of hospitals will be constructed at a cost of Rs 425 crore. While the multi-specialty hospital to be located at Gadakana will have 550 beds, the five dispensaries will have 250 beds. The hospitals will be completed within two years, according to the agreement. Around 45% of the total 800 beds will be earmarked for the economically-weaker people.
BMC sources said the dispensary at Kapila Prasad will have the highest 100 beds and the dispensaries at Gadakana, Brahmeswarpatna and Rasulgarh will have 40 beds each. The Bharatpur dispensary will have 30 beds.
The state government will provide Rs 52 crore (viability fund) for the project. The amount will be given in a phased manner to the private hospital. The Krishna institute will operate and maintain the hospitals for 34 years. The government may extend it further.
It has been made compulsory for the Krishna institute to set up four family planning clinics and 20 sick newborn care units. This healthcare project has been converged with all the programmes under National Health Mission (NHM), said a BMC spokesperson. The Krishna group will provide healthcare to people having been enrolled in schemes like Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, Biju Krushak Kalyan Yojana and Odisha State Treatment Fund.