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The West Bengal Government will invest over ` 3,000 crore to set-up 40 new speciality hospitals across the State. The hospitals are likely to come up and be operational over the next one year.
According to Malay De, Principal Secretary, State Health Department, three new cancer care facilities in the districts and suburbs – one each in Burdwan, Murshidabad and Kamarhati (in North 24 Parganas) – will also be coming up over the next two to four years. Each cancer hospital will be coming up at a cost of approximately ` 40 crore.
This apart, the State Government along with the Centre will fund the expansion of the Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute.
One of the 25 regional cancer care centres in the country, the second unit of the Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute will be coming up at Rajarhat, on the northern fringes of the city, soon.
“The stress is on developing the healthcare infrastructure in the State. Private partnership in developing healthcare infrastructure is also welcome,” he said during a seminar on healthcare – Chikitsa 2014 – organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
PPP Model
According to De, the State Government will also explore the public private partnership (PPP) model not just in developing hospitals; but, also for setting up various diagnostic facilities.
Around four new hospitals are expected to come up in the PPP model. While the State Government will be providing the land for three of them, the fourth will be a Greenfield venture.
“We have identified several unused healthcare facilities, like TB hospitals. The land of these facilities can now be used for setting up new hospitals on a PPP model,” he added.
Fair Price Labs
Also on cards is the introduction of subsidised diagnostic or pathological laboratory facilities on the lines of “fair price medicine shops”.
Called “fair-price path labs”, these will have Government-determined rates (lower ones) for carrying out various tests. The equipment will also be purchased by the State Government. However, the facilities will be run by private parties.
The first such “fair price path lab” is expected to come up at the Sambhunath Pandit Hospital over the next few weeks. “If successful we will replicate the model across other State-run hospitals,” he added.
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