ADB to give Rs 4,000 cr to improve health infra in Maha, says CM Shinde

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday said the Asian Development Bank will provide loan of Rs 4,000 crore to improve medical facilities in the state.

The in principle approval for the first tranche of Rs 1,200 crore has been given, he added. "The Asian Development Bank has sanctioned the pending proposal of Rs 4000 crore loan to Maharashtra for creating advanced healthcare infrastructure and medical education. It has also given in-principle approval for Rs 1,200 crore in the first phase," the CMO said in a statement. It said the CM had instructed officials to start work on a 500-bed hospital in Dharashiv (formerly Osmanabad).

"The ADB has suggested seven different types of improvements at administrative level as well as in medical education. It includes centre of excellence, digital medical education and health policy, e-hospital, encouragement to medical officers and staff, property management, sustainability policy, recruitment centres, decentralisation of medicine procurement," it said.

"The ADB would be giving Rs 1,200 crore for construction of the hospital. The tender procedure for construction of similar infrastructure at Alibaug in Raigad district is completed while process for Kolhapur and Sindhudurg is going on," the release quoted him as saying. Speaking after inaugurating a super speciality hospital in Ulhasnagar in Thane, Shinde his government aimed to start a medical college and super speciality hospital in every district.

Shinde hailed the cashless hospitalisation system prevalent in Thane and said he would take efforts to replicate it across the state.

Shinde also said he had carried out the "biggest surgery in the state" as everything was in a bad state, a reference to his rebellion in June 2022 which brought down the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government.