West Bengal government has yet again exhibited a grand example of its diligence and fortitude to boost the state’s medical infrastructure by proposing ways for the growth of medical education. The state government has thus formulated a master plan in this regard to convert the distant wishes into a reality and ensure the development of West Bengal.
The wish of the government is to utilize its available land and material assets to use it for the cause of promoting medical education in the state. The intention is to broadly use the Private Public Partnership (PPP) programme and work towards the realization of the scheme through its available infrastructure.
The Department of Health and Family Welfare has issued a memorandum in this regard on last Friday. The memorandum states that the government wants to implement a wide networked robust policy framework to promote medical education in the state by utilizing the PPP model.
The health department has undertaken some commendable and significant steps in the field of healthcare so far. The department will invite offers from entities to establish medical colleges in the state through the PPP model. The government’s equity in the project will be in the form of land assets as well as material assets like buildings.
An agreement will also be made while finalizing the layout where the selected private partners would have to reserve at least 25% of the indoor beds in their established medical colleges for the free treatment of the underprivileged masses. The final directives in this regard will be chalked out according to the policies of the health department.
There will also be an alternate provision for the private bodies in case they do not implement the aforesaid reservation plan of 25% indoor beds for free treatment of poor people. In this case they will have to religiously pay a monthly concession fee to the government. The said amount shall be at least 25% of the total monthly amount collected as medical fees from patients admitted in the in-patient ward of the establishment.
The government will utilize the concession fees collected through the said procedure for the free treatment of poor people by the health department. The alternative procedure will ensure the equal amount of benefits from the government’s point if view as the revenue generated from both the methods will eventually be same in magnitude.
The state government has lately arranged a barrage of schemes for the development of healthcare in the state. Its main focus has been on the healthcare of newborns, children and mothers for which it has launched many initiatives. The establishment of CCUs in this regard and launching the Sishu Sathi Prokolpo are golden examples to prove the facts.
The private partners must compulsorily reserve one-third of the total seats to be filled by medical entrance exam. In order to accelerate the establishment of medical facilities, the private partners will also be allowed to actively utilize the facilities available at government medical colleges and hospitals. The PPP model will follow all the necessitated and compulsory rules laid down by the finance department for the implementation of any PPP programme in the state.
Tags:
Medical
West Bengal
Government
Healthcare
Colleges
