Bhubaneswar, Dec 21 (IANS): Union Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik has blamed the Odisha government for the delay in setting up an AYUSH hospital in Balasore district.

Replying to a letter of Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Naik said the state government is yet to submit the physical and financial progress of previously approved 50-bedded integrated AYUSH hospitals at Dhenkanal and Berhampur.

The non-submission of the progress report has led to the delay in the process of setting up the Balasore hospital.

The Minister said that the state government has submitted a proposal for setting up of a 50-bedded integrated AYUSH hospital in Balasore through the state annual action plan under the National AYUSH Mission (NAM) during 2018-19.

"However, the state government has not submitted the physical and financial progress of the earlier approved 50-bedded integrated AYUSH Hospitals," said Naik in a letter, which was released to the media on Friday.

AYUSH is the acronym for Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy.

The Ministry of AYUSH had sanctioned Rs 5 crore during 2016-17 and Rs 3 crore during 2017-18 for setting up of two units of 50-bedded integrated AYUSH hospitals at Dhenkanal and Berhampur, respectively.

"Therefore, Mission Directorate of National Ayush Mission has suggested that the state government has to utilise the previous sanctioned amount and submit the progress report to the Ministry of AYUSH," said the Minister.

He said the state government may project the proposal for setting up of up to 50-bedded integrated AYUSH hospital at Balasore through state annual action plan as per NAM guidelines.