Odisha University of Health Sciences has been established on 5 March 2023[3] to cater the much needed quality in medical education for the state of Odisha as an affiliating university ensuring affiliation, uniformity in various medical academic programmes, training and research in Modern Medicine, Homeopathy, Ayurveda, Dental, Pharmacy, Nursing, Physiotherapy, Laboratory and Radiation Technology.
History
Odisha was perhaps the only state where medical colleges were being governed by general universities with each affiliated with a separate university. A great disparity has been felt by coming years in areas of uniformity and a lack of nodal agency for the medical education and research in the state. So initially the state government had proposed a health university in the early 2000s, the by-laws and rules for the university were submitted to the government by an expert committee in 2005. After 16 years, the Assembly had given its nod to the Odisha University of Health Sciences Bill on 3 September 2021.
OUHS has started functioning from its temporary building at Sishu Bhawan Square, Bhubaneswar as per a notification issued by the Health and Family Welfare Department of Odisha on March 5, 2023 (Panchayati Raj and Lokaseva Divas). The new university will provide uniform and quality medical education in UG and PG courses of Allopathy, Homeopathy, Ayurveda, Nursing, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, Laboratory technology and other allied medical science courses in the state.[4]
For the permanent campus of university, a committee has been formed to suggest an alternative site of approx. 25 acres in the periphery of Bhubaneswar city.
In May 2023, Odisha State Cabinet chaired by CM Naveen Pattnaik approved ₹330.17 crore for the establishment of the university which will facilitate achieving excellence in the field of Medical and Allied Health Education and Research.[5]
The Governor of Odisha is the chancellor of the Odisha University of Health Sciences. This university became active with the appointment of Dr. Datteswar Hota (former dean and principal of SCB Medical College and Hospital) as the first vice-chancellor of OUHS on 5 March 2023.[7]
Affiliations
The Odisha University of Health Science is an affiliating university and has jurisdiction over all the medical, nursing, and paramedical colleges of the entire state of Odisha covering more than 200 medical and para medical colleges.
