State mulls lockdown on schemes for non-resident patients at govt hospitals

Kolkata: A large number of patients from a neighbouring country often visit the state-run hospitals in the city to avail the benefits of free treatment schemes introduced by the Mamata Banerjee government. This often creates a burden on the hospitals.

The state Health department may impose some restrictions on patients coming to the hospitals from outside the country. The Health department may come up with some plans so that the patients coming from a different country cannot access all the health schemes of the state government.

As all the hospitals in the city are overburdened with patients, it becomes difficult for them to cater to extra patients who are not residents of the country.

Thousands of people from various neighbouring districts also reap the benefits of health schemes initiated by the Bengal government. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's dream project of providing free-of-cost health services in all state-run hospitals and medical colleges

has become a great success with a large number of people availing free treatments at the hospitals.

It has been found that many patients from a neighbouring country are also taking benefits from the health schemes. It has been observed that these non-resident patients stay here at their relative's places when they plan to visit the Outpatient Departments (OPDs).

A large number of people are coming to the city to undergo critical surgeries at various hospitals.

"People from outside the state are availing the benefits of various projects and many of them undergo critical surgeries at various state-run medical colleges in the city, free-of-cost. A sizeable number of patients are from Bangladesh. In most of the cases, the health department is clueless about the whereabouts of these patients," a senior

official of the Health department said.

It has been observed that some of these patients give their identities as local residents. After availing medical treatments, these patients go back to their native places. This trend is creating a pressure on the state government.

Sometimes it becomes difficult to stop a patient from being treated at the hospitals only because that person is not a resident of the state, said an official.