| Bengal's ill healthcare | ||
| Schemes for the poor not publicised, funds left unused & patients given untested drugs | ||
| By Aloke Banerjee in Kolkata | ||
THE LEFT Front government in West Bengal swears by the poor. But when it comes to providing healthcare to the impoverished, its commitment seems hollow. The latest unpublished report of the Comptroller and Auditor General ( CAG), available with M AIL T ODAY , reveals that Rs 7.3 crore was released by the Centre and the Bengal government since 1998 under the State Illness Assistance Fund meant for the poorest in the state. Out of this amount, about Rs 3.5 crore was invested as term deposit in various banks, instead of being spent on treating patients. Upon inquiry, the CAG found that the Bengal government did not give mandatory publicity to the scheme. Funds remained unutilised as a result, because critical patients from below poverty line ( BPL) families had no idea that such assistance schemes existed. Also, though the Centre allotted Rs 6.38 crore between 2002 and 2005 under National Cancer Control Programme, the Left Front government spent only Rs 3.31 crore. As a result, no further funds were granted by the Centre under the scheme. The central grant of Rs 4.89 crore for upgrade of mental hospitals in the state remained unused till last year, the CAG report said. In its report, the CAG noted with concern that though urban population in Bengal increased by about four lakh between 2002 and 2006, the number of beds in urban hospitals had decreased. A CAG survey revealed that in the government- run super- specialty SSKM Hospital in Kolkata, as many as 230 patients had to wait for urosurgery for over two months and 150 for ENT operations for about one month last year. In Gandhi Memorial Hospital, a specialist hospital for heart/ chest diseases at Kalyani, 229 to 306 patients had to wait for treatment for one to 14 months during 2002- 2007. In a shocking revelation, the CAG report notes that despite specific instructions from time to time, medicines worth Rs 72.22 crore were not tested in the state drug control and research laboratory. Yet, they were administered to patients by 25 hospitals between 2002 and 2005. During 2002- 2006, 28,499 units of blood costing Rs 1.32 crore were destroyed because of improper planning for their collection. As expected, during the last state conference of the CPM, the health department was put in the dock for its poor performance. The review carried out by the party after the setback in the recent panchayat elections also identified the appalling state of health services as one of the reasons for the poll debacle. aloke.banerjee@ mailtoday.in |
With Regards
Abi
__._,_.___
*****************************************
Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm
*****************************************
Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf
*****************************************
MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.
*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm
*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm
*****************************************
Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/
*****************************************
MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari
http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm
*****************************************
German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm
*****************************************
Some FAQ's about Mukto-Mona:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/new_site/mukto-mona/faq_mm.htm
****************************************************
VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/
****************************************************
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
-Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe
__,_._,___