A super speciality hospital will be set up in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, since lack of medical facilities has often led to injured security personnel succumbing to their injuries, Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda said here today.
"The Union Home Ministry has given us (Union Health Ministry) a proposal and land is being identified for the purpose," Nadda, who is on a one-day visit to the region, told reporters.
However, he did not elaborate about the proposal and said that progress is being made in the direction of either setting up or upgrading a hospital in the Bastar district.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh's cabinet had decided last month to build an ultra modern 100-bed hospital at Jagdalpur for police officials.
Informing about various health projects, the Union Minister said that a State Cancer Institute would be set up in Bilaspur at a cost of Rs 150 crore, out of which the Centre has approved Rs 120 crore, while rest of the amount would be borne by the Chhattisgarh government.
A Tertiary Cancer Care Centre would also be set up at Manendragarh in Koriya district with the assistance of South Eastern Coalfields Limited, he said.
"A demand was being made to set up a super specialty hospital in Raipur for which we have asked to submit a proposal (from the Chhattisgarh state government)," he said.
After Maoist incidents in the Bastar region, defence experts and health officials had said that there is an urgent need for life-saving medical facilities in areas where security forces are deployed.
They had maintained that casualties of security forces could have been brought down if they had been treated in time.
Presently, all injured security personnel are airlifted to Raipur for treatment.
Sometimes, injured security personnel are rushed to the nearest Maharani Hospital in Jagdalpur (Bastar) but only for primary treatment.
