State’s first ‘budget hospital’ at SSKM Hosp set to partially open before Puja

Kolkata: The first ‘budget hospital’ in the state will be partially made operational inside the SSKM Hospital premises before Puja this year.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee introduced a new concept in the Health sector.

According to sources, the first two floors of the 10-storeyed building of the ‘budget hospital’ will be opened for the patients initially.

The construction works of the hospital started in November 2023. It will be like a corporate hospital but the treatment costs will be on a much lower side. It has come up in

a PPP model.

The first ‘budget hospital’ in the state will have 8 VIP suites, 102 well-decorated cabins and a total of 131 beds including 16 ICU beds, 5 HDU units and recovery beds.

All these facilities will be accommodated in the 10-storeyed building.

The costs of the treatment have not been fixed yet but one will be able to avail treatment at 70-80 per cent lower cost than any corporate hospital.

Woodburn Ward of the SSKM Hospital will also be given a major facelift as the number of cabins will be increased up to 60 from the current 36.

The idea of ‘budget hospital’ came up after the Woodburn Ward was operated in a PPP model and it became a great success and also turned out to be a profitable venture.

According to sources the ‘budget hospitals’ will be set up gradually in all the districts. There are plans to open such a hospital in other medical colleges in Kolkata such as Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, RG Kar Medical College, NRS Medical College and Hospital, Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital, Burdwan Medical College, North Bengal Medical College, Bankura Sammilani Medical College etc. These hospitals would be equipped with facilities like private cabins with ACs and TVs, single, double and four-bedded cabins, ICUs etc.