Now, pvt hospitals in districts on Mamata radar

After taking private healthcare providers in the city to task for malpractices, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will now be ensuring that private hospitals and nursing homes operating in the districts also fall in line.

According to the sources in the state secretariat, the Chief Minister will be holding talks with authorities of private hospitals and nursing homes in districts during her visits to hold administrative review meetings. The CM had to step in as the state government was flooded with complaints from districts on patients being overcharged, nursing home authorities misbehaving with patients' family members and negligence in treatment. The complaints started pouring into the state secretariat after the Chief Minister pulled up the private hospitals and nursing homes in the city for overcharging patients at a recent meeting in Town Hall.

Banerjee regularly visits every district to take stock of progress made in different projects and schemes. She holds meetings with district authorities. During her next visit to the districts, representatives of all private hospitals and nursing homes will be asked to be present at a meeting where the Chief Minister will address them.

It may be mentioned that the state government had prepared data on the malpractices of the private hospitals in the city and the Chief Minister had asked representatives of private hospitals to explain the reasons behind the "unprofessional conduct" during a recent meeting at Town Hall.

She voiced serious concern over the cavalier attitude of the authorities of private hospitals and set up a health regulatory commission to monitor the functioning of the private hospitals and nursing homes in and around the city.

In a programme on Monday, Banerjee said that the state government would provide support to owners of private hospitals if they did their business wisely as health care centres were not slaughter houses.

It is learnt that the district administration would also prepare a list containing complaints against specific hospitals in the districts. The Chief Minister will talk to the authorities as per their record in the data provided by the district authorities and the health department.