Kolkata: The state government has identified the Academic Building to be set up as an office of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at SSKM Hospital.
The proposed office is likely to come up on the eighth floor of the nine-storeyed Academic Building that is situated in the heart of the hospital campus.
Senior state government officers, including those in the Public Works Department and Health Department, on Friday inspected the site and studied the pros and cons of setting up the office there.
The team will give its report which would be analysed before taking a final decision in the matter.
Banerjee, who also looks after the Health department, announced on Thursday that she would sit at the SSKM Hospital every Thursday to make an on-the-spot study for the upgradation of healthcare infrastructure in Bengal.
The Chief Minister would visit the hospital at 4 pm every Thursday and would be present there for the next three to four hours.
She would sit with Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi and senior officers of the state Health department, including Health Secretary NS Nigam at SSKM to carry out an in-depth study of the infrastructure that is available in the state-run hospital and a conference room that can accommodate a dozen officials would also be set up for the purpose.
Sources said to convert the meeting room of the college council housed on the eighth floor of the Academic Building into a conference room, options were being studied and if necessary another adjacent room will be made the CM's office.
The team of officers from the state Public Works Department has also studied the electrical wiring and all crucial aspects of the building that will house the Chief Minister's office. The Academic Building is situated just opposite the Woodburn Building.
Banerjee is the first Chief Minister in the state's history to camp in a state-run hospital for a direct and better monitoring to ensure fast and improved execution of the projects related to the health sector.
In a bid to revamp the healthcare sector, Banerjee had visited the state-run hospitals after coming to power. She went to various hospitals risking her life amidst the Covid pandemic to take stock of the situation and encourage health workers and doctors who are working relentlessly to save lives.