Odisha plans 19 hospitals in PPP mode with an outlay of Rs 1,200 cr

In Odisha, govt hospitals at district headquarters are heavily congested and private operators account for only 27.59% of total healthcare facilities

For providing healthcare services at affordable rate across Odisha, the state government is planning to develop 19 hospitals having 2,600 beds under public-private-partnership mode.

The affordable healthcare project is expected to see an investment of about Rs 1,200 crore for development of hospitals both in greenfield and brownfield mode. International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group (WBG), is the transaction advisor for the project.

Out of 19 hospitals proposed, there will be four cluster pairs and 11 single sites. These facilities will be set up in 18 districts of the state.

"It is the largest PPP project initiative by the state government in the healthcare in the country. The bids will be invited in the month of January and the agreement with the state government is likely to be signed with qualified organisations in May. Each bed will see an investment of about Rs 40 lakhs", said Pranav Mohan, investment officer (health), public-private-partnership advisory services, IFC on the sidelines of "Investor Conference on Affordable Health Project" which was chaired by Pramod Kumar Meherda, secretary of Department of Health & Family Welfare.

As many as 40 organisations including Apollo, Amri, United Health Group, Wipro GE, HCG, Narayana Healthcare, Asian Health Alliance, Fortis participated in the investor conference on Tuesday.

With just 36,000 hospital beds for 42 million population (0.8 bed available per thousand population), Odisha has large-scale infrastructure gap of 120,000 hospital beds compared to the World Health Organisation recommendation of 3.5 beds per 1,000 population for low and mid-income countries.

With the presence of big brands like Apollo Hospitals, LV Prasad Eye Institute, Care Hospital in Bhubaneswar, the capital city has emerged as a healthcare hub of eastern India. Healthcare services in Odisha are generally concentrated in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Sundergarh.

In Odisha, the government hospitals at district headquarters are heavily congested and the private operators account for only 27.59 per cent of the total healthcare facilities in the state providing ample opportunity for private investment.