With the aim of taking health services to the people who need it but are unable to access them due to location and economic disadvantage, Odisha Government has launched air ambulance service for four districts.
The service, a significant step in the healthcare services – Mukhyamantri Vayu Swasthya Seva — was inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar.
#Odisha CM @Naveen_Odisha launches Air Health Services in the State. Specialist Medical Team to be airlifted to treat the patients in case of emergency situation.
Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, Nuapada to be covered in the first phase. #TNI #TheNewsInsight pic.twitter.com/MVJk4O8i42
— The News Insight (@TNITweet) December 20, 2021
In the first phase, the service will be launched in four districts, namely, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Nuapada and Kalahandi while other districts will be covered under the programme in a phased manner free of cost.
The initiative will include preparation of a list of specialists by the Health Department needed for treating patients who are critical and admitted in the different District Headquarter Hospitals (DHHs). Following this, specialists and doctors will be flown to the DHHs by helicopter and aircraft for treatment. On the basis of requirement, patients will be airlifted to healthcare facilities in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.
For this purpose, a doctors’ team of the SCB Medical College & Hospital in Cuttack has been formed. Similar teams of doctors of MKCG Medical College & Hospital in Berhampur, VIMSAR in Burla and other private hospitals which are empanelled under the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) will be constituted.
On the inaugural day, the SCB Medical College & Hospital team was flown to Malkangiri and the teams were led by the State Health Director Dr Bijay Mohapatra.
According to the State Health Minister, Naba Kishore Das, this initiative is to provide proper healthcare service to those patients who were deprived of better treatment by specialists/ experts due to locational disadvantage.
The Minister added that experts and specialists such as neurologists, nephrologists and cardiologists will be flown to the DHHs while the follow-up treatment of the patients will be carried out through telemedicine.
