Bhubaneswar: In a historic step towards providing improved healthcare to the people of Odisha, the state’s Health and Family Welfare Department has signed 10 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with several leading institutions.
The agreements aim to bring extensive changes to healthcare services, infrastructure, and research across the state.
The institutions include Gujarat’s I-Hub, Antara Foundation, the All India Institute of Ayurveda, Adani Group’s Sevadaan Arogya Foundation, the Health System Transformation Platform, AIIMS Delhi’s Centre for Emergency and Trauma Care, and Kochi’s Amrita Hospital for pediatric cardiac care, among others.
The MoU signing programme was held at the Kharavela Bhawan conference hall in Bhubaneswar. Departmental ministers and senior officials were present on the occasion.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr. Mukesh Mahaling said the agreements would mark the beginning of a new era in maternal and child health, emergency medical care, Ayurveda, laboratory accreditation, and health administration.
He said the state government aimed to make the healthcare sector more robust, quality-driven, and welfare-oriented.
As per the MoU signed with AIIMS Delhi’s Trauma Care Centre, a medical college at a district headquarters will be adopted as a Centre of Excellence for Trauma Care. Arrangements will be made to upgrade trauma care facilities across the state under this partnership.
The All India Institute of Ayurveda will work to advance medicines prepared using traditional Indian knowledge systems, along with Ayurvedic treatment methods, in Odisha.
Under the collaboration, free treatment for children’s heart diseases will be provided with support from Amrita Hospital. The Sevadaan Arogya Foundation will build “rest houses” for patients’ relatives at six medical colleges. Modern medicine storage warehouses will be set up across all 30 districts in partnership with the International Finance Corporation.
I-Hub Gujarat will promote innovation and startups in the health sector, while Tata Steel and the Kaivalya Foundation’s “Project Swasthya” will work to reduce maternal and child mortality rates in the state. The Quality Council of India will provide NABL accreditation to laboratories at district headquarters hospitals.
Separately, Dr. Mahaling also inaugurated the modernised Tele-MANAS room of the Mental Health Institute (MHI) at SCB Medical College, Cuttack, through virtual mode on the same day.
The minister said reaching quality mental healthcare to every citizen and building a healthy, empowered society was the government’s main goal.
He said the use of technology to expand mental healthcare across Odisha would help create awareness, enable early identification of problems, and encourage people to seek help without hesitation.
