The much-awaited outpatient department (OPD) at AIIMS Bhubaneswar Satellite Centre in Balasore will resume from next week. Director, AIIMS Bhubaneswar, Dr Mukesh Tripathi, who visited the hospital to take stock of the progress of the work, informed on Wednesday.
"Due to the pandemic, the facility was closed. Now, we are going to start it again with addition of some equipment and machineries including ECG, X-Ray and ECHO Cardiography machines," Dr Tripathi informed.
“We can also depute super speciality doctors but only when there is an accumulation of such patients. Discussions are underway to launch telemedicine facility with the help of DRDO. Once launched, patients here can consult the doctors at AIIMS in Bhubaneswar,” Dr Tripathi said.
When asked about the 300-bedded hospital, Dr Tripathi said, “The process is underway. The budget provision for the hospital has been finalised. At present, the design of the hospital is to be finalised. Once done, construction work will kick off. I hope the hospital will start functioning within one year, or maximum two years.”
“If a patient from here is referred to AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, s/he will be facilitated there,” Dr Tripathi added.
It is worth mentioning here that the OPD at the Satellite Centre was stopped following the outbreak of the pandemic.
Notably, the budgetary provision for the Satellite Centre was made in 2013, when Srikant Jena was the Union Minister. In 2018, the then Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda had laid its foundation stone.