Centre sanctions Rs 3000 crore for Bengal healthcare: Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari
The Statesman | 24 May 2026
A review meeting on healthcare delivery and implementation of centrally sponsored health schemes in West Bengal was held on Saturday, which had West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and top administrative officials in attendance. The meeting was chaired by the Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda.
Speaking after the meeting, chief minister Adhikari said that a comprehensive roadmap had been prepared to integrate West Bengal more closely with centrally funded healthcare programmes and expand access to national health schemes that had allegedly remained underutilised in the state in previous years.
According to Adhikari, the Centre sanctioned Rs 2,103 crore for West Bengal under the National Health Mission during the current financial year, of which Rs 500 crore has already been released. In addition, Rs 976 crore has been allocated under Ayushman Bharat, taking the total sanctioned amount to more than Rs 3,000 crore.
According to him, Union Health Minister also reportedly assured the state government that there would be no shortage of funds for healthcare development in West Bengal and announced that three specialised teams would soon visit the state to assist in training, monitoring and implementation of major health programmes in coordination with national and international agencies, including the World Health Organisation.
A major focus of the meeting was the rollout of the Ayushman Bharat scheme in West Bengal. The state government said enrolment had already begun and expressed confidence that Ayushman Bharat cards would start being distributed from July.
“More than six crore beneficiaries currently covered under the Swasthya Sathi scheme will be brought under the national health insurance programme immediately. New applicants, too, will be given the opportunity (to enrol for the Ayushman Bharat cards,” Adhikari said after the meeting got over.
According to Adhikari, the state government will roll out the national cervical cancer vaccination programme on May 30 at Bidhannagar Sub-Divisional Hospital in Salt Lake. The programme, introduced nationally earlier this year, is expected to cover girls between the ages of 14 and 15 in the state, with the Centre planning to provide more than seven lakh vaccine doses to Bengal.
“We will formally launch the programme from the Bidhannagar Sub-Divisional hospital. I will be there on May 30 to launch it. Vaccines will be provided across all districts of the state,” Adhikari added.
The state will also organise a Tuberculosis (TB)-Free India workshop in Kolkata on May 30, involving MLAs and MPs from West Bengal.
Chief Minister Adhikari on Saturday expressed his concerns about the high infant and under-five mortality rates in districts such as Kolkata, Murshidabad, Purba Bardhaman, Birbhum and Malda.
“This is alarming. We will do everything we can to bring this down,” Adhikari said while adding that cases of leprosy in districts like Birbhum, Bankura, Jhargram, Kolkata, West Burdwan, Purulia and North Dinajpur remain well above the national average figures.
The state government officials in the meeting informed their Delhi counterparts about the severe manpower shortages in the healthcare sector, with recruitment in several centrally sponsored schemes standing at only 53 per cent of the sanctioned strength.
” We will streamline the recruitment process and improve transparency in appointments of doctors, nurses and healthcare staff. Within the next three months, we are going to start the recruitment process on a war footing,” Adhikari said.
The meeting also reviewed the expansion of Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Kendras in the state. At present, 117 such centres are operational in West Bengal, but the state has proposed expanding the network to nearly 470 centres covering block health centres, sub-divisional hospitals and district hospitals. Officials said the move could drastically reduce medicine costs for families dependent on long-term treatment for chronic illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension.
The state government additionally informed the Centre that proposals would soon be sent for establishing medical colleges in Alipurduar, Kalimpong, Dakshin Dinajpur and Asansol, areas that currently lack such institutions. Discussions were also held regarding a proposal for an AIIMS in North Bengal.