Inaugurating the second premium luxury ward at government-run SSKM Hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said patients at the facility can get the kind of beds available at a private hospital at Rs 15,000 each a day by paying just Rs 5,000.

The initiative, she claimed, was the first across eastern states of the country.

Banerjee said, “At private hospitals where a bed costs Rs 15,000, a bed with similar facilities here will cost Rs 5,000.

A single-bed cabin charge will be Rs 8,000 while HDU (high-dependency unit) bed will cost Rs 12,000 a day. The charges for an ICU (intensive care unit) bed have been kept at Rs 15,000.”

The new ward has been named “Ananya” and has 131 beds of which 21 are CCU (critical care unit) beds, officials said.

The Chief Minister said, “SSKM’s second Woodburn ward (as the first was called) will overtake the private hospitals. All benefits will be available at a low cost like large private hospitals. All health care facilities will be available here. There is a 5 bed critical care block for critical patients. Robotic surgery will be here. This is the first such service in a government hospital.”

She said, “Today, we inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of 18 projects at the SSKM Hospital. Of these, 15 projects have been inaugurated at a cost of Rs 162 crore and the foundation stone has been laid for projects worth Rs 100 crore. We are also starting a robotic surgical system. This is the first in the government sector.”

Banerjee added, “The work on a cancer block is also underway. The building is almost complete. We had a tie-up with Tata Cancer Hospital, Mumbai. One is being built at the SSKM Hospital and the other at North Bengal Medical College and Hospital.”

Eastern India’s first bone bank is being built at SSKM Hospital which will eventually get kidney and liver banks as well, she said.

The CM said, “The SSKM now has five-six hospitals under it. That is why it was included in the Brics network recently. In the coming days, it will get even more recognition. As a token of goodwill and appreciation, we are giving Rs 10 lakh from the Health Department.”

Raising the issue of Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, the CM said, “They are asking for birth certificates. Where would people get that? When I came to power in West Bengal, the institutional delivery percentage was 60%. Now during our regime it has increased to 99%. Now everyone will have a birth certificate.”

On the Central government’s decision to lower GST on health insurance premium, she said, “We were the first ones to be vocal about the fact that premiums for mediclaim and health insurance cannot be increased and GST must be exempted. Many people are taking credit for it but do you know how much loss our state will incur due to this? No compensation has been given to us. We will face revenue losses. Though other states will also lose revenue they will get their money back. For us that is not the case as we will not get anything and all our funds have been halted.”