Kolkata: Urging all to fight the battle together against COVID-19, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday urged the private hospitals to work with the state government to ensure that no one in the state gets deprived of necessary treatment. In the same breath she said that it is not the time to do business.
She urged the private establishments to take necessary steps when a patient with symptoms of the disease turns up at their hospital and added that the state government is ready to bear the cost for the same.
Banerjee held a high-level meeting with representatives of private hospitals in the city including Apollo Gleneagles Hospital, Ruby General Hospital, Narayana Group of Hospitals and Fortis Hospital.
Authorities of private laboratories including Dr Lal Path Labs and SRL Diagnostics were also present in the meeting, along with the senior state government officials and state-run hospital authorities.
Banerjee announced that the Rs 5 lakh insurance will also be extended to the employees of private healthcare units, who will be working to fight against the disease. The state government has also decided to give 100 personal protective equipment (PPE) and 100 masks to each of the establishments present in the meeting on Thursday. Banerjee has also directed Health Secretary Vivek Kumar to form a WhatsApp group, in which representatives of private health establishments will be present along with senior state government officials for better communication. She told the private hospital authorities that the guidelines of ICMR will be sent to them as soon as the state government receives it.
She also enquired about the number of beds available in isolation wards of the private hospitals and whether swab tests can be carried out in any of the private diagnostic laboratories.
The Chief Minister directed Apollo Gleneagles Hospital to cross-check a piece of information she received that a physician, who has recently returned from Africa, is practicing at the hospital.
Banerjee also distributed responsibilities among a set of IAS officers to supervise the ongoing work to avoid spreading of the disease at different districts. Senior IAS officer Subrata Gupta will look after Darjeeling and Kalimpong, while S Kishore has been given the charge of Cooch Behar and Alipurduar. Rajesh Pandey will take care of Nadia and North 24-Parganas, whereas B P Gopalika, Additional Chief Secretary of Animal Resource Development department, will look after North and South Dinajpur. Ajit Bardhan and S A Baba will look after Jalpaiguri and East Midnapore respectively.
M V Rao will look after Bankura and Purulia, while Sunil Gupta will be supervising the same in East and West Burdwan. Naveen Prakash, the Additional Chief Secretary of the state Irrigation department, will look after West Midnapore and Jhargram, while Ridesh Mohan will take care of Birbhum. Senior IAS officer Prabhat Mishra has been given the charge of Kolkata.