SOA OPERATED COUNTRY’S LARGEST ODISHA COVID HOSPITAL BECOMES FUNCTIONAL

Bhubaneswar, April 6: Even as the country was locked in a grim battle against the Covid-19 pandemic with the number of infected people rising every day, Odisha’s largest stand-alone Covid Hospital, run by the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital, faculty of medicine of the SOA
Deemed to be University, became operational here on Monday.

The 525-bed hospital including 25 ICU beds, billed as the second largest such facility in the country, was declared open through a video conference in which Odisha Chief Minister Mr. Naveen Patnaik, Union minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan, Union minister for Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs, Mr. Prahlad Joshi and senior officials took part.

A tripartite agreement had been signed earlier between the Odisha government, the public sector Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) and IMS and SUM Hospital here on March 26 for establishment of the hospital. As per the agreement, MCL would be responsible for funding the facility.
IMS and SUM Hospital had extended infrastructure, patient care, critical care, laboratory and radiological support and ICU facilities for the new hospital established in a separate four-storied
complex of the university located in its campus number 2 close to IMS and SUM Hospital.

The Chief Minister thanked the doctors and medical staff who had taken up the responsibility to treat Covid-19 patients while expressing his gratitude to MCL for extending finacial help. He appreciated
SOA’s decision to take up the responsibility and setting up the facility in record time.

Mr. Pradhan thanked the Chief Minister for taking ‘timely’ and ‘visionary steps’ to contain the Corona Virus saying the 48-hour ‘shut down’ of three major cities was a great initiative which helped
identify more number of infected people. He said the Covid-19 pandemium had shaken the world and people must, cutting across caste, creed and party lines, abide by the decisions being taken by the Prime
Minister Mr. Narendra Modi and the Odisha government.

Mr. Joshi described the new hospital as a great medical asset for the people of Odisha in the present situation while assuring that the central government would extend all support to the state in
this battle against the pandemic. “I wish no one comes to this hospital, but if anyone does come to be treated he should recover and return home healthy,” he said.

Both Mr. Pradhan and Mr. Joshi thanked SOA’s Founder President Prof. Manojranjan Nayak for his initiative and support which led to the setting up of the Covid Hospital.

The Odisha Chief Secretary Mr. Asit Kumar Tripathy, Development Commissioner Mr. Suresh Mohapatra, Secretary to the Chief Minister (5T) Mr. V.K.Pandian, Odisha’s Director General of Police Mr. Abhay, state’s Chief Spokesman on Covid-19 Mr. Subroto Bagchi, Vice-Chancellor of SOA Prof. Ashok Kumar Mahapatra and Chairman cum Managing Director of MCL participated in the video conference.