Bhubaneswar: The state government will set up an ayurvedic medical college in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district.

This was revealed by Health Minister Mukesh Mahaling in the Assembly today.

“An ayurvedic medical college will come up in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha. The state government is taking the necessary steps in this regard,” said the minister in the House.

According to the minister, the state government has initiated process to fill up the vacant posts of doctors in Odisha.

“The government today issued an advertisement for the recruitment of 5,248 MBBS doctors in the state,” he added.

At present, the state has altogether 16,918 hospital beds against the requirement of 34,000 beds. The government will arrange 17,000 new hospital beds in the coming days, revealed the minister.

“The Odisha government is committed to open medical college in every district of the state. It will open two new medical colleges this year,” he said.

The minister further revealed that the state government has stopped providing health insurance under Biju Swasthy Card, which was introduced by the previous BJD government in Odisha.

Notably, the BJP government in Odisha has renamed the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) of the previous BJD government as Gopabandhu Jana Arogya Yojana (GJAY) and integrated it with the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) of the Union Government.