Bengal Govt Exaggerating Availability of COVID Beds, Alleges Report

New Delhi: “Some patients are refusing to leave their beds in the hospitals, that is why newer patients cannot find beds,” claimed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at a press conference at Nabanna, the West Bengal state secretariat.

The number of COVID deaths has crossed 1,000 in the state. The number of total confirmed cases until now is 36,117. However, in the recent past, the state has witnessed multiple cases of people dying due to COVID and other illnesses because hospitals are allegedly refusing to treat them.

The West Bengal government’s health department uploads documents listing out the number of vacant beds in both government and private hospitals everyday on their website. According to the health department’s website, there are a total of 1,800 COVID beds in private hospitals across the state, and 11,027 COVID beds in government hospitals. Out of these, as on Friday, July 17, there were 212 vacant beds in private hospitals and 7,191 vacant beds in government hospitals.

According to a report published by Bengali daily Ganashakti on Wednesday, July 15, these numbers are” highly exaggerated”. For instance, according to government data, the number of total COVID beds at M. R. Bangur Hospital, Kolkata, is 670, out of which 265 are currently vacant. However, the hospital administration told Ganashakti that the total number of COVID beds at the hospital is 472, and not 670.

Similarly, according to the state government, the ESI hospital in South 24 Parganas has a total of 470 COVID beds, out of which 385 are currently vacant. The hospital administration, however, told Ganashakti that the total number of beds available in the hospital for COVID treatment was just 166. The situation is similar for almost all government hospitals.

On Thursday, Left Front chairman Biman Basu, while addressing the media, said that “the state government has not told the residents of the state anything. The people do not know where to get tested, what to once they test positive. The non-COVID patients do not know which hospitals to go to. The COVID-affected patients are being forced to seek treatment at private hospitals because the government hospitals do not have the facilities.”

Basu said the Left parties and their mass organisations had decided to hold awareness campaigns across the state on July 18 and 19. “The situation will not improve if the people are not aware, which is why we are organising this two-day awareness campaign. It’s also a protest against the state government and the Union government, which have both been unable to fulfill their duties. Hospitals do not have the infrastructure to deal with the current situation, the quarantine centres are ill-equipped. We will organise more protests towards the end of the current month,” he added.

On Thursday, students, youth, and women’s organisations held a rally till Kolkata Medical College and Hospital, in protest against the recent deaths in the state due to alleged negligence. Students’ Federation of India, Democratic Youth Federation of India, and All India Democratic Women’s Association participated in the rally. The protesters blocked the road at College Street to register their anger.

Addressing the crowd, AIDWA state secretary Kanika Ghosh said: “The patients are being referred from one hospital to another, no one is treating them. The state government cannot keep playing with the lives of the people like this”, she said, adding that “this movement will keep growing until the state government is forced to stop lying and strengthen the public healthcare system.”