Bengal CM pays surprise visit to Swasthya Bhawan, reviews progress of hospital monitoring system

Kolkata, Jul 9 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday paid a surprise visit to Swasthya Bhawan, the state health department headquarters, in Salt Lake near here, and reviewed the progress of a hospital monitoring system aimed at improving patient care. He said the live CCTV-based monitoring system has already been in place at 15-16 state-run hospitals in the city and in a few districts, and directed the officials concerned to expand the facility to all sub-division hospitals by July 30. "I have directed that the live hospital monitoring system be expanded to all subdivision hospitals by July 30. The surveillance will not be limited to emergency wards and OPDs but will also cover kitchens, parking areas, and fair price medicine shops to ensure transparency, cleanliness and better patient care," Adhikari said. He also said this would help eliminate the activities of touts in government hospitals. After inspecting the monitoring facility, the chief minister held a meeting with state Health Minister Sharadwat Mukherjee and senior departmental officials and announced that 250 beds would be added to the state-run SSKM Hospital in south Kolkata, possibly before Durga Puja this year. He also directed officials to increase the hospital's ICU capacity from around 112 beds to 200 to reduce the burden on patients. The CM also called for strengthening the hospital's burn unit, which currently has only 60 beds. The chief minister also stressed the need for strengthening emergency healthcare infrastructure and called for increasing trauma centre capacities to provide primary care to at least 250 patients simultaneously. The CM said such a facility was essential in view of major accidents and emergencies. He also announced that the state has signed an agreement with the Adani Group to set up a 2,000-bed international-standard hospital in New Town, with 1,000 beds reserved for poor patients. He said private hospitals built on government land have also agreed to earmark 10 per cent of their bed capacity free of cost for economically weaker sections. While the original agreements required them to reserve 15 per cent of beds, "moving from nothing to 10 per cent is a good beginning", he said, expressing hope that these hospitals would eventually comply with the full commitment. Seeking to improve patient welfare, the chief minister said the daily food allocation for patients in government hospitals had been increased from Rs 54 to Rs 110 for three meals, while allocations under nutrition schemes for schoolchildren, pregnant women and children below five years had also been enhanced. He also directed officials concerned to create accommodation facilities for relatives of patients by developing additional infrastructure on available land near hospitals. Calling for hospitals to function as "Ayushman Mandirs", Adhikari said the government would work to eliminate middlemen from hospital premises through live monitoring, introduce colour-coded identity cards for healthcare staff, patients and attendants to improve security and accountability. The CM also said the government will ensure that doctors and healthcare workers get a pressure-free working environment with adequate administrative support. Asked about alleged non-cooperation by the health department in police cases, Adhikari directed health authorities to extend full cooperation to the police by promptly providing all documents and information sought under provisions of law. PTI BSM BDC