The Opposition BJP and Congress members on Wednesday targeted the Government over the “failures” in the healthcare sector even as Health and Family Welfare Minister Naba Kishore Das refuted the charges saying people are being provided required healthcare under the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BKSY).

Participating in an Adjournment Motion debate, BJP member Bishnu Charan Sethi alleged that the Apollo Hospitals didn’t provide treatment to a man under the Biju Swasthay Kalyan Yojana. While the man died during treatment, the hospital couldn’t hand cover the body to the family for days for nonpayment of fees of lakhs of rupees. He further alleged that patients are facing lot of problems in Government hospitals due to lack of doctors and non-operation of machines.

Opposition members like Santosh Singh Saluja, Adhiraj Mohan Panigrahi, Jayanarayan Mishra and Mukesh Mahali alleged that patients are not getting proper treatment in the Government hospitals and at times they being exploited by private hospitals.

However, BJD members Dr Pramod Mallick and Ashwini Patro refuted the charges saying the State Government is taking appropriate steps in resolving all problems in Government hospitals and the BSKY has been very helpful to poor people.

In his reply, the Minister said a Health Policy would be announced soon to expedite quality treatment to the people. Health plans are being prepared keeping 2025 as the target year. All MLAs will be consulted for making health plans. Odisha would produce more doctors compared to its requirement in the coming two years.

However, Leader of Opposition Pradipta Naik intervened and said doctor posts meant for SC and ST categories are not being filled up as candidate belonging to the two categories are not getting seats as per reservations in the medical colleges.

Stating that the Minister’s statement is unsatisfactory, Naik and other BJP members staged a walkout.