Panel of docs travel by air to take care of critically ailing people in Odisha’s remote pockets

Bhubaneswar, Aug 18 (UNI) A team of doctors from SCB Medical College and Hospital, State’s premiere government-run health unit, today flew to far flung Malkangiri district on the southernmost tip of Odisha to provide critical healthcare facilities as part of air health service under the Mukhyamantri Vayu Swasthya Seva scheme.

The panel of doctors who travelled by air from Bhubaneswar’s Biju Patnaik international airport to Malkangiri this morning began attending the patients requiring laparoscopic surgery besides nephrology and neurology treatment.

The panel of doctors will provide treatment to about 250 patients during their four-day stay in the remote district, said an official of the State’s health and family welfare department.

It may be recalled here that the previous BJD Government had launched Mukhyamantri Vayu Swasthya Seva in 2021 in an attempt to expand the free specialized healthcare facility to poor
and backward section people in the remotest corners of the State.

Shortage of adequate number of doctors is a major area of concern in State’s tribal-dominated districts such as Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Nuapada and Kalahandi districts. The doctors mostly
shy away from serving in these remote locations principally due to abysmal lack of hospital infrastructure and diagnostic facilities.

The scheme akin to air ambulance service envisages coming to the rescue of poor people in need
of specialized treatment, which is conspicuous by its absence.