Ailing woman gets Swasthya Sathi card in 30 minutes in Asansol

KOLKATA: In a major relief, the family members of an ailing woman received Swasthya Sathi card within half an hour following the intervention of local MLA and BDO. The incident took place in Asansol's Barabani.

A Swasthya Sathi card was prepared and issued to the patient's family from the Barabani BDO office in just 24 minutes as the family had no such card and the woman was requiring emergency treatment. The patient, Malati Patra (65), a resident of Barabani block has been suffering from various age related ailments. The family members contacted the local BDO office. A 'Duare Sarkar' camp was going on at the local BDO office. The local BDO, Soumitra Pratim Pradhan and MLA Bidhan Upadhaya took initiatives, prepared a Swasthya Sathi card on urgent basis and handed it over to the family. It took around 24 minutes to complete the whole process. Local sources said that the family had a Swasthya Sathi card but they could not avail the facilities of the card as there were some technical flaws in the card. As the local administration came to know about the incident and felt the need for a card for the family, it acted promptly. "My mother required hospital admission but we had an invalid card. As we drew the attention of the local MLA, he came forward and extended all sorts of assistance. The BDO made all the arrangements to ensure that the card is handed over within less than an hour," patient's son, Tirthankar.