Actor-turned-MLA Kanchan Mallick is again in the news, this time over a hospital bill he is said to have submitted to the West Bengal Assembly after the birth of his child at a private hospital.
Mallick, Trinamool Congress MLA for Uttarpara, married Srimayee Chatterjee in February this year and the couple welcomed a baby girl on November 3. The hospital in South Kolkata charged them Rs 6 lakh in total. According to Assembly sources, the MLA submitted the bill to the House’s health affairs department with all relevant information and documents on Tuesday.
When asked about his bill, Mallick said, “From where you came to know about the bill, learn about the rest of the matter from there.”
Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee said he would check all the documents. “I personally check all the health bills before giving clearance. In this case too, I will go through all the documents myself. If any questions arise, I will call the hospital concerned and talk to the authorities,” he said.
However, another TMC leader said Mallick has not submitted the medical bill yet. “He went to the Assembly just to enquire about the bill where the hospital charged Rs 2 lakh for the procedure and Rs 4 lakh as the doctor’s fee. It’s very unfortunate that everybody is saying he submitted a medical bill of Rs 6 lakh.”
In the past, ministers had faced scrutiny over their health bills submitted to the Assembly. During the Left Front era, minister Manav Mukhopadhyay faced a backlash for claiming Rs 30,000 for spectacles, leading him to forgo the allotted amount. Buddhadev Bhattacharya was the chief minister then.
After the Trinamool government came to power in 2011, then Women, Child and Social Welfare Development Minister Savitri Mitra submitted a bill of Rs 1 lakh for spectacles. She returned the funds after a controversy snowballed over the bill and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee intervened, saying that it was submitted by mistake.
In both instances, the medical bills were submitted by ministers. This time an MLA’s medical bill is at the centre of a controversy.
There is no upper limit to the amount for which MLAs can submit hospital bills and claim reimbursement.