Odisha HRD

Update on the Bhawanipatna Medical College

(Thanks to Kalahandia for the pointer.)

Following is from http://expressbuzz.com/states/orissa/medical-college-to-see-light-of-the-day/253254.html.

The last one year has rekindled hopes for Kalahandi waiting since long for a medical college as promised by the State Government. Sardar Raja Medical College at Jaring is expected to start functioning from 2012 academic year, the chief executive officer of the college Tarun Mishra announced at a press meet here.

The project got clearance from the State Government in 2004 after an MoU was signed with a private educational institute Salvam Educational and Charitable Trust, Tamil Nadu. The Revenue Department provided 25 acres at Jaring and Western Orissa Development Council released Rs10 crore for infrastructure development. Work soon picked up on the 300-bed hospital, college and hostel buildings.  

However, the project suffered a setback with the chairman of the trust entangled in a legal battle in Tamil Nadu. The long court battle had raised doubts about the future of the project. Last year, the college also failed to get a nod from the Medical Council of India mostly due to lack of adequate number of doctors, staff and some basic infrastructure. This had led to resentment among the locals.  

With the charges against the chairman of the trust dropped, the project witnessed some positive development this year.  

Mishra said that the infrastructure as pointed out by MCI has been put in place. The Health and Family Welfare Department has already issued essentiality certificate and Sambalpur University given consent for affiliation. MCI permission has already been sought and the team is expected to be here soon. Pending works have been taken up on a war-footing to meet the MCI stipulations, he  added. 

The chairman of the Salvam Educational and Charitable Trust SA Raja, in a press release, said that the commitment for establishment of a medical college and super speciality hospital will be fulfilled and he thanked people for their cooperation for success of the project despite undue delay.

It would be interesting to see whether this one becomes operational first or the AIIMS-like institute in Bhubaneswar gets operational first. Looks like both are scheduled to take in students in 2012. The foundation stone of the AIIMS-like institution was laid in 2003, a year earlier than the medical college in Kalahandi.

2 comments March 4th, 2011

Status of Sardar Raja’s Medical College and Hospital in Jaring, Kalahandi: Pioneer

Following are excerpts from a report in Pioneer.

Kalahandi’s Sardar Raja’s Medical College and Hospital (SRMCH), the foundation-stone for which was laid by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on February 8, 2004 at Jaring, named Naveen Town, is yet to cater to the needs of the region full-fledged.

Even after six years, the pending work of the hostel construction is yet to be completed.

Initially, the State Government had provided 25 acres of land at Jaring, en route Bhawanipatna to Junagarh, and the Western Odisha Development Council (WODC) had sanctioned Rs 10 crore (out of which Rs 9 crore has been received) for the establishment of the SRMCH.

The ongoing work began to slowdown when its chairman was convicted in a case by the Madras High Court ten months ago.

… However, Raja’s two sons often visit the Jaring-based SRMCH from Tamil Nadu and hope for its bright future.

CEO Tarun Mishra told The Pioneer that in the absence of the chairman, all its staffers are apparently losing confidence.

Mishra also informed that the trust has enough funds and all its 83 staff members get their salaries in time, but the pace of the work is yet to pick up.

He said that earlier the WODC CEO Aswini Mishra, Kalinga Hospital director Saheb Sahu, Junagarh MLA Gobardhan Das and Berhampur Medical College principal Sunamali Bag had held a review meeting on the hospital campus for speeding up the work.

The SRMCH had signed an MOU with the State Government to complete it in a five-year period, but the period of the MoU has already elapsed.

… Under the Selvan Educational and Charitable Trust, Vadakangulam in Tamil Nadu, the SRMCH has already spent around Rs 25-30 crore and the WODC has funded Rs 9 crore for the building construction and purchase of equipment.

The hospital’s 100-bed facility was first inaugurated on December 9, 2006.

It was again inaugurated on March 18, 2007 with its 200-bed facility followed by its last inauguration of 300-bed on July 27, 2007.

Facilitated with all types of equipment, the hospital work is now being handled by three doctors only, with a medicine specialist, pediatrician and one dentist on duty.

Nearby villagers come to the hospital and take advantage of it as far as possible. It requires appointment of 12 doctors for full-fledged operation.

… The hospital has facilities of an ICU, two X-ray wards, ECG, ultra sound, 3 OTs, but due to insufficient doctors machines are hardly used.

 

The positive part is that the hospital is somewhat functional and has 300 beds and the trust has spend much more than what it received from WODC. But considering that even the private medical colleges in Bhubaneswar are running at a loss, a private medical college in Kalahandi does not have a good chance of being self-sustaining. The government needs to step in and either take over the infrastructure, add the necessary missing infrastructure and make it a government medical college OR agree to pay the full tuition (at market rates) of at least 20 students/batch for the next five years. The latter will guarantee some cash flow to the trust and perhaps make it easier for them to operate the medical college.

June 15th, 2010

Education issues debated in Odisha Assembly: Naming of National/innovation University; Government taking over of the medical college in Kalahandi

Tathya.in reports that this time nice debates are going on in the Odisha assembly.Following are some Samaja reports on debates relevant to education.

March 14th, 2010

Status of WODC helped private medical colleges in Kalahandi, Balangir and Rourkela

Following is from Samaja:

The summary of the status is:

• Bhawanipatna, Kalahandi: Good progress, MCI visitor scheduled to visit in September for inspection
• Balangir: Govt. has received 6 proposals after its last call. The proposals are from:
  • Dr.D Meher Education & Health Trust, Balangir,
  • Santhigiri Ashram, Kerala,
  • Sahayata Trust, Hydrabad,
  • supreme Task, New Delhi,
  • Vigyan Bharati Charitable Trust , Bhubaneswar and
  • RVS Educational Trust, Tamil Nadu.
• Rourkela: MOU signed with Bhubaneswar based Vigyan Bharati Charitable trust. (They also run the Hi-Tech Medical college in Bhubaneswar.) Construction has started.

2 comments July 1st, 2009

People of Kalahandi up in arms for university: Dharitri

2 comments August 12th, 2008

Sickle Cell Disease Research Centre started functioning in Sardar Raja Medical College, Jaring in Kalahandi

Following is an excerpt from a report in New Indian Express on this.

To combat sickle cell disease, a Sickle Cell Disease Research Centre has started functioning in Sardar Raja Medical College in Jaring of Kalahandi district under the leadership of project director Dr. Gyana Ranjan Padhi.

Padhi, a medicine specialist, after retiring from health Department services joined the medical college recently. He hails from Dasigaon of Kalahandi.

4 comments January 2nd, 2008