BMC dream for super specialty hospitals in Bhubaneswar not come true after seven years

Bhubaneswar, Jan 22: The dream for super specialty hospital of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has not come true yet. Seven years passed after BMC conceptualised a chain of such hospitals at Gadakana , Bharatpur, Rasulgarh and Brahmeswar Patana in the city. But not a single hospital has seen light of the day yet. Considering the increasing load on Capital Hospital and other primary health centres in and around the city, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation had planned to establish a chain of super specialty hospitals at four places in the city. These hospitals were to be equipped with all sophisticated health amenities as in the corporate hospitals. All these hospitals were to be constructed and managed in public private partnership (PPP) mode. Accordingly, detailed project reports (DPRs) were prepared to set up a chain of 5 super specialty hospitals. While the biggest 550 bedded hospital was proposed at Gadakana. Krishna Institute of Medical Science(KIMS) Hyderabad signed an MoU with BMC to share its participation in 2015.KIMS was to invest Rs. 450 crore in phases to make the hospital operational. While, 2019 was the deadline to complete the total infrastructure, no work has started here yet. Similarly, the proposed super specialty hospital at Kapilaprashad is in lock and key with BMC. Here, the existing primary health centre was to be upgraded to super specialty hospital with a provision of 100 beds and other essential health equipments. Apart from it, another three 30 bedded hospitals were proposed to be set up at Bharatpur, Rasulgarh and Brahmeswar Patana. As of now, all the three projects have not seen the reality. On the other hand, BMC had renewed MoU with some  other institutions after KIMS walked out from the joint venture. None of the proposed developers has turned up yet to make the dream project of the BMC operational. Surprisingly,BMC is utilising the so called  Gadakana hospital site as a full fledged bus terminus. This decision of the BMC has put a big question on the cherishing dream of the super special hospital.