Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday urged Union Health and Family Welfare Minister JP Nadda to release the balance Central share of Rs 397 crore at the earliest for speedy completion of the five new medical colleges being set up at Baripada, Koraput, Baleswar, Balangir and Puri.
Speaking to reporters after meeting with Nadda in New Delhi, Patnaik said he also urged Nadda to give letters of Permission to the two medical colleges at Baripada and Koraput to enable them to start their first-batch admission from 2017-18.
“The State has received only Rs170 crore till date against the committed Central share of Rs 567 crore for these colleges,” said Patnaik.
Maintaining that the State Government has decided in principle to merge the existing National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and the State Health Insurance Scheme (SHIS), the Biju Krushak Kalyan Yojana (BKKY) under the new National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS), Patnaik said the State Government has also decided to fully support additional 38.80 lakh beneficiary families from the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) database in addition to 37.17 beneficiary families approved by the Centre for coverage under the NHPS.
He urged the Union Minister to allow the State to use the NHPS IT platform for the additional 38.80 lakh beneficiaries to be fully supported by the State Government in the first phase of the NHPS.
He informed Nadda about the State Government’s plan to start a comprehensive cancer care programme during 2017-18 with the State Plan Budget for spreading cancer awareness at the community level and for upgradation of simple cancer diagnostics and early management services like onco-surgery and chemotherapy.
He urged upon the Union Health Minister to approve the four Tertiary Cancer Care Centres at Capital Hospital, Bhubaneswar; VSS Medical College and Hospital, Burla; MKCG Medical College and Hospital, Brahmapur and District Headquarter Hospital, Kalahandi to supplement the State’s efforts for strengthening cancer care in peripheral and remote areas.
He also urged Nadda to initiate necessary steps for early establishment of the propsoed Regional Institute of Paramedical Sciences at Bhubaneswar.
The Chief Minister expressed his concern over the recent decision of Central Government to limit the number of attempts to three for appearing in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Under Graduate (NEET-UG).
“The decision to limit the number of attempts to three for appearing in the NEET-UG is a cause of concern, particularly for students belonging to weaker sections,” said Patnaik.