Coronavirus: West Bengal government to grant special permission to hospitals to increase bed capacity

Kolkata, May 06: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday said her government has decided to grant special permission to all medical establishments to increase the number of beds by at least 40 per cent to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

She said that private hospitals in the state have been allowed to increase the number of beds, which will enhance the total number of beds in the hospitals in West Bengal to around 30,000.

"Today we have decided to give special permission to all the hospitals to increase their bed strength by 40 per cent. The decision was taken to address the COVID-19 pandemic here," she told reporters at the state secretariat.

The chief minister said that a decision was taken to set up oxygen plants at all medical and superspeciality hospitals. "The hospital authorities will be able to do it themselves. The medical colleges in the districts have been given the authority to do it themselves since doing it centrally may take some time. We do not want to waste time," she said.

On the question of getting more doctors, she said third-year post graduate trainees will be employed in treating COVID-19 patients. "Since their examinations have been postponed they can be utilised in treating COVID-19 patients. They will get some extra benefit for this. It will help us in getting 2,000 more doctors and nurses," Banerjee added.