Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has selected Dr Nihar Ranjan Sahoo, in charge of the central ICU in the MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur, for the prestigious Chief Minister’s Award for Excellence in Healthcare Services.
Dr Sahoo will be presented the award at a function in Bhubaneswar on February 13. He says he was delighted to receive a letter from the Commissioner-cum-Secretary of Odisha Health and Family Welfare Department, informing him about being selected for the Chief Minister’s Award.
Dr Sahoo’s dedication and hard work have been appreciated by the then Berhampur Collector Vijay Amruta Kulange and several senior medicos of the city. His dedication to the service of the patients is evident from the fact that he resumed duty at the medical college hospital just a day after his father’s demise in 2021.
According to Dr Sahoo, he was pained to see so many patients suffering from Covid-19 while he was away from duty due to his father’s death. “I was devastated following my father’s death but still decided to join duty a day after performing the last rites of my father.”
What is significant is that while Dr Sahoo was busy attending to his patients in the hospital, his wife and children were suffering from Covid-19 at home. Dr Sahoo was down with the viral infection for about a week in April 2021.
Despite all these problems, Dr Sahoo knew that his patients needed him in the hospital and he could not pass the time sitting at home. His love for his profession and concern for his patients have won him applause from several quarters, including the then District Collector.
During the Covid-19 outbreak, Dr Sahoo treated as many as 4,000 patients – a remarkable feat indeed.
