July 10, 2019
14-fold increase in health budget in Bangla in the last 8 years
- The budgetary allocation in the health sector in Bangla has gone up to Rs 9,552.70 crore in the current fiscal (FY 2019-20), from a mere Rs 682 crore in 2011, which is a massive increase of 1,300.69 per cent.
This information was provided by the Minister of State for Health during the course of her presentation of her department’s budget in the Assembly on Friday, July 5.
Under the leadership of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is also the Health Minister, the Health Department has witnessed a sea change in all parameters, said the minister, with equal priority being given to both health services and medical education in the last eight years.
Other highlights of the minister’s health budget speech:
- Number of doctors in State hospitals has more than doubled in comparison to 2011 – from 4,500 to 10,900
- Number of nurses has witnessed a sharp jump too – from 37,366 to 52,820
- 42 superspeciality hospitals set up, with locations being chosen after detailed surveys on patient requirements
- Areas identified on the basis of proneness to accidents, eye diseases, etc. and facilities set up accordingly at the nearest superspeciality hospitals
- Number of beds in superspeciality hospitals is 13,600, among which 13,000, or more than 95 per cent are operational
- 44 critical care units (CCU) operating now, from none in 2011
- Combined with high-dependency units (HDU), number of units dedicated to critical care is now 69
- District hospitals have undergone major facelift – infrastructure for digital X-ray, CT scan, dialysis and MRI introduced, among others
- Consequent to betterment of district hospitals, referral cases from them to Kolkata’s hospitals have gone down.
- Source: Millennium Post
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