West Bengal Allied-Medical and Para-Medical Council (Amendment) Bill 2019 passed

Kolkata: The West Bengal Allied-Medical and Para-Medical Council (Amendment) Bill 2019 was passed in the Assembly for the purpose of making provision for selection of the president and vice president of the West Bengal Allied-Medical and Para-Medical Council by nomination instead of election so as to enable the Council to discharge its functions.

Some of the opposition MLAs raised questions on the motive of the government to nominate president and vice president. Minister-of-state for health Chandrima Bhattacharya in the Assembly said that the elected body will not be replaced.

New posts have been introduced in the name of president and vice president who will help the council run smoothly.

Elections will however take place in every three years. There is no provision in the newly passed bill to dissolve the elected council.

The minister also reminded that paramedical staffers take a great deal of burden in the hospitals.

A separate council was set up by the government to bring transparency in the system. She also assured that the state government's intention is clear. It wants to ensure that the council functions in smoothly manner.

Another bill namely, the West Bengal Clinical Establishments (Registration, Regulation and Transparency) (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was also passed in the Assembly. One of the main objectives is to facilitate the single doctor to manage his patients more effectively.

Bhattacharya said that the single doctor clinic would be brought within the ambit of the bill. She said that accident victims will be able to visit the single doctor clinic.

It may be mentioned here that the Mamata Banerjee government had set up a health regulatory commission

to fix accountability on private hospitals.