Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today inaugurated dialysis centres at 16 sub-divisional hospitals in Odisha.
The state government had planned to open dialysis centres at 32 sub-divisional hospitals in Odisha.
The Chief Minister inaugurated the dialysis centres at sub-divisional hospitals of Khurda, Pallahara, Talcher, Soro, Kamakhyanagar, Hindol, Dharmagarh, Gunupur, Baliguda, Anandpur, Champua, Bonaigarh, Rairangpur, Udala, Tigiria and Dungurpalli through videoconference.
With the inauguration of dialysis centres at sub-divisional hospitals, kidney patients can now avail the facility free of cost in their localities, said the Chief Minister.
“The state government had introduced free of cost dialysis facility for kidney patients in 2018. Odisha was the first state in the country to provide free dialysis facility,” added the Chief Minister.
Initially, the state government had set up dialysis centres at district headquarters hospitals (DHHs) in Odisha. Now, the government is taking steps to open dialysis centres at 32 sub-divisional hospitals in the state. The state government will spend Rs 50 crore to provide free dialysis facility to kidney patients, said the Chief Minister.
The government had opened 36 dialysis centres at state-run medical college and hospitals and DHHs in Odisha. Today, the facility was inaugurated at 16 sub-divisional hospitals. The state government will open 16 such centres in future, sources said.
“Odisha will soon have 68 dialysis centres. These centres can perform 3.7 lakh dialysis sessions in a year,” said an official.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Niranjan Pujari and Agriculture Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain joined the programme from Dunguripalli in Sonepur and Tigiria in Cuttack respectively.
Health department Principal Secretary Shalini Pandit gave the welcome address while Director of Health Services proposed the vote of thanks.
