CM visits two city hospitals
KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited two major hospitals in the city on Wednesday to take a stock of the Covid situation. Her visit came as a major encouragement for the health workers, who are working round-the-clock risking their lives for society.
Banerjee visited Sambhunath Pandit Hospital and Kolkata Police Hospital at Bhowanipore on Wednesday evening. Her visit to the hospitals brought back memories of 2020 when she used to visit hospitals, risking her life during the pandemic.
It also needs a special mention that Banerjee, who is also the state Health minister, used to visit hospitals to take a stock of their infrastructure soon after coming to power in 2011.
Meanwhile, the state government has decided to allow cremation of a Covid suspect patient only after a Rapid Antigen Test as there were reports of delay in cremation as it takes 72 hours to get reports of the RT-PCR test.
The state government has also decided to provide quacks in the rural parts of the state with a set of guidelines on how to treat a Covid patient at the time of any emergency. The decision has been taken due to the abnormal rise in Covid cases and often quacks provide initial treatment in rural areas. There are around 2.75 lakh quacks in the state.
The state government has also decided to give vaccine doses to transport workers, journalists and hawkers on priority basis. Around 2 lakh people are receiving vaccines in the state every day.
Within hours after taking oath as Chief Minister, Banerjee held a high-level meeting at Nabanna and took a series of decisions to help people get better health services. She directly went to the hospitals from Nabanna. Firhad Hakim, TMC MLA from Kolkata Port and chairman of the Board of Administrator of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, accompanied the Chief Minister.
Commissioner of the Kolkata Police Soumen Mitra was also present. Banerjee interacted with doctors and officials of the hospitals.
Earlier, Banerjee said at present there are 27,000 beds for Covid treatment. "The number of beds will go up to 30,000 in the next two to three days. It also includes 3,500 ICCU beds," she added. The state government is also introducing an app WB-ICMS to help people get various information related to the fight against Covid.
