Mamata Banerjee at a meeting in Howrah on Tuesday. Express
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee chaired a meeting with state health department officials and government hospital doctors at Nabanna on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, she slammed the Centre for “irregularities” in conducting the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) in West Bengal. “In this year’s NEET exam, students from our state could not perform well because of problems in translation. English and Bengali question papers were different. They are not giving priority to regional needs. Students who speak the local language are at a disadvantage. We have already written to the Centre on this issue,” she said.
Mamata had on May 7 written to the Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, saying his ministry should consider re-examination at some of the affected centres, PTI reported. The CM also criticised the rising prices of life-saving medicines. “As the Centre has increased the prices…the medicines are unavailable at many places. Common people are suffering because of this,” she said. A PTI report quoted her as saying, “Anti-rabies vaccines are not available in designated shops as the Centre has increased tax leading to its price escalation.”
Mamata claimed patients from outside Bengal were coming to the state in large numbers for treatment. “Treatment in government hospitals is free of cost. There has been a sea change in the infrastructure of hospitals. Fair price medicine shops and diagnostic centres have been set up. Procedures like dialysis are performed at lower costs. Pacemakers and stents are given for free. As a result, patients from neighbouring states and countries are coming to Bengal in large numbers, thus increasing the pressure on state hospitals. About 27,000 new beds have been added,” she said.
She also urged doctors to “provide service with a smile” and instructed the administration to prevent untoward incidents of vandalism and violence at hospitals in the state. “The administration will have to prevent such attacks on hospitals. It will have to take immediate steps if hospitals are vandalised,” she added.