The rot runs deep in West Bengal’s private health care system.
ON THE MORNING OF MARCH 15, SUNIL PATRA, a small businessman from West Bengal’s South 24 Paraganas district, met with a road accident in which his leg got severed. His family members rushed him to a well known private hospital in Kolkata, where he was allegedly denied treatment unless his family deposited Rs.50,000. Not being able to come up with that sort of money at short notice, his family took Patra to the State run SSKM Hospital, where he was admitted after much delay and paperwork at 10 p.m. It was too late, and his severed limb could not be rejoined. The private hospital denied knowledge of such a patient. For close to 11 hours, Patra suffered as his family and friends moved from pillar to post to get treatment.
The incident took place just 12 days after the Trinamool Congress government passed the West Bengal Clinical Establishments (Registration, Regulation and Transparency) Bill, 2017, to keep in check inhuman and unethical practices of private medical establishments in the State. Earlier, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had chastised representatives of private hospitals and nursing homes and urged them to take a more humane approach in dealing with patients. On March 16, Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi gave his formal nod to the Bill.
The very fact that such a piece of legislation had to be enacted is an indication of the state of health care in West Bengal. The legislation was prompted by an increasing number of complaints of harassment and malpractices in private health care facilities.
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