Suvendu meets govt hospital heads; no refusals, ambulance tracker in reform push
Telegraph | 16 May 2026
Patients should not be turned away from state-run hospitals or forced to move from one healthcare facility to another in search of a bed, chief minister Suvendu Adhikari said at a meeting with heads of medical colleges and health officials on Friday evening.
The meeting, held at SSKM Hospital, was Suvendu’s first interaction with health officials. The BJP’s two doctor-MLAs — Sharadwat Mukherjee from Salt Lake and Indranil Khan from Behala West — were present.
During the meeting, Suvendu flagged the long-standing problem of patients being refused admission at hospitals, sources present said.
He directed officials to ensure that the admission process was free of political influence and that deserving patients were not denied beds.
Suvendu also asked the health department to develop an app to track the real-time location of ambulances.
No refusals
Patients should not remain unattended on stretchers while searching for a bed, Suvendu told principals and medical superintendents of hospitals. The menace of referrals must stop, he said. “It is a common sight in government hospitals that patients lie on stretchers or trolleys. They are denied admission and made to visit one hospital after another in search of a bed. The chief minister said this has to stop,” a source present at the meeting told Metro.
Patient refusals and referrals are not new. Previous Left Front and Trinamool governments had also announced measures to curb the problem, but with limited success, sources said. It remains to be seen whether Bengal’s first BJP government can address the issue.
The Mamata Banerjee government had introduced a system under which a hospital referring a patient had to book a bed at the receiving hospital and provide the patient with a reference number to prevent further refusal. However, the system largely remained on paper.
Multiple visits to state-run hospitals by Metro over the years found that patients were still being referred from one hospital to another.
Health department sources said the problem begins at sub-divisional hospitals and continues through district hospitals, state general hospitals and tertiary care centres like medical colleges in Calcutta.
Suvendu also asked officials to increase the number of beds in state-run hospitals.
Ambulance tracking
Suvendu directed health department officials to create a mobile app to track ambulances in real time.
Sources present at the meeting said ambulances often refuse to pick up patients unless they are paid extra money.
“If the real-time location of an ambulance is tracked, it will be easier to know how far it is from a patient who needs to be picked up. Ambulance operators often prefer patients willing to pay more rather than those nearest to them,” said a source.
Besides health department officials, Kolkata Police Commissioner Ajay Nand and Kolkata Municipal Corporation commissioner Smita Pandey were also present at the meeting.
Depoliticising admissions
Sources said Suvendu instructed heads of medical colleges to ensure that admission decisions remained under their control, without interference from political leaders.
“The doctors and administrative staff of a hospital will take calls regarding admissions. The chief minister said no political interference will be allowed,” a source said.