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Bengal

Health dept officials to hold meeting with pvt hospitals

Health dept officials to hold meeting with pvt hospitals
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Kolkata: Senior health department officials will hold a meeting with their counterparts from the private hospitals in the state and other stakeholders to discuss various issues relating to the Swasthya Sathi scheme as a large number of beneficiaries are coming into its fold following the latest announcement by the Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

One of the main objectives of the meeting is to ensure that the scheme is implemented smoothly and not a single beneficiary is deprived of the health facilities. The private hospitals will be instructed that no patients with Swasthya Sathi cards can be denied treatment. It may be mentioned here that some complaints had surfaced against some private hospitals, where the patients faced difficulties while availing the health services under the Swasthya Sathi scheme.

Following such incidents, the State government had issued directives citing that empanelled private hospitals would have to provide the required treatment to the patients having Swasthya Sathi cards. "How a better coordination can be established between the health department and the private hospitals may also find place during the meeting," sources said.

Earlier, around 1.5 crore families enrolled for 'Swasthya Sathi' scheme but following the new announcement the entire population of the state has been brought under its fold.

As a result, the total number of beneficiaries will go up by a huge margin. Sudden rise in the number of beneficiaries may create a pressure on the private health establishments. According to the health department sources, the top brass of the private hospitals would therefore be urged to be prepared to handle the situation. They would also be requested that no incidents of patients' denial happen if they produce Swasthya Sathi cards.

The health department has already strengthened the existing infrastructure to run such a big project in a smoother way. The health department has also created a robust IT platform so that there is no delay in providing health services. IT platforms have been given a further boost to monitor the health scheme on a real-time basis.

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