Kolkata: For the first time since Independence a Chief Minister of the state will be camping at a government hospital every week along with senior bureaucrats to make an on the spot survey for further upgradation of the health care system in Bengal.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who also looks after the Health department, will sit with Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi and senior officers of the state Health department including Health Secretary NS Nigam at SSKM Hospital to carry out an in-depth study of the infrastructure that is available in the state run hospitals. A conference room that can accommodate a dozen officials would be set up for
the purpose. Banerjee asked Director of SSKM Hospital
Dr Manimoy Bandyopadhyay
to set up the necessary infrastructure.
The Chief Minister would visit the hospital at 4 pm every Thursday and would be present there for the next three to four hours.
"Health care system is an important sector for me. The Health Secretary himself sits at Swasthya Bhavan. So we have decided to camp at SSKM Hospital on every Thursday if I am in the city or else it would be held every 15 days. The purpose of my visit is to redress health-related issues as early as possible with better monitoring and coordination. Many new projects are also coming up at SSKM Hospital as well including a new Cancer hospital in collaboration
with the Tata Memorial. I can
also monitor the developments taking place at the hospital," Banerjee said during her visit
to the hospital on Thursday evening.
Again, Bengal is the only state where treatment is completely free at any government health care establishments. As a result people from many neighbouring states too reap its benefits. Stating about the second cancer hospital that is coming up in Siliguri, the Chief Minister said that she has asked Dr GK Dhali of IPGMER, who earlier visited Siliguri in connection with setting up of the hospital, to once again visit north
Bengal as there are reports of high cases of Covid at Sikkim border.
When asked about the condition of her leg in which she received injuries during a poll campaign at Nandigram and subsequently campaigned on a wheelchair, Banerjee said: "Last week only there was an MRI of my ankle. It is yet to heal completely and still swollen. They (Doctors) are saying that it would take another one and a half months to heal".