Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has announced a plan to convert the aging district headquarters hospital (DHH) in Bargarh into a 30-bed Urban Community Health Centre (CHC), following heated protests in the town voicing the demand for a city hospital.
The CHC will provide emergency and OPD services, as per an official statement issued from the Chief Minister’s Office. Patnaik also announced free-of-charge ambulance and bus services for patients and families between the old and new DHH buildings.
The residents had been clamouring for a city hospital at the old DHH building as the district hospital has been shifted to Tukurla on February 1, which lay ten kilometres away from the city.
A local outfit by the name of ‘Bargarh Nagarika Ekata Mancha’ had staged a citywide bandh for the past three days, demanding a city hospital at the old building with adequate numbers of doctors. Senior BJD leaders from the district, including rural development minister Susanta Singh, Rajya Sabha member Prasanna Acharya, local MLA Debesh Acharya and others, met the Chief Minister at the state secretariat to discuss the problems being faced by the residents, following which the announcement for a new urban CHC was made.