Vardhan promises Odisha all help in health sector

Promising all central assistance to Odisha in the health sector, union minister Harsh Vardhan on Saturday said quick steps would be taken to complete unfinished work and open new facilities at AIIMS here.

‘The remaining work of AIIMS, Bhubaneswar will be taken up with accelerated pace to make it an ultramodern medical institute,’ the union home minister told reporters after meeting chief minister Naveen Patnaik here.

Efforts would be made to strengthen the infrastructure of AIIMS, Bhubaneswar and make it better and more advanced than AIIMS, New Delhi to fulfill the dreams of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who had mooted the project, he said.

Steps are being taken to open new departments like mental health and neurosciences, cancer, cardiothoracic and cardiac surgery and occupational medicine at AIIMS, Bhubaneswar. Activities of AYUSH would also be strengthened to ensure proper coordination with modern medical sciences.