KOLKATA: Raising questions about the competency of the healthcare system in a state-run hospital, Mamata Banerjee’s remark that her infection had become “septic” due to “wrong treatment” triggered a political row as opposition parties highlighted the sorry state of the state’s medical infrastructure—a department that the chief minister oversees directly.
After visiting Nabanna, the state secretariat, on Wednesday, following a nearly two-month break due to her knee injury issues, Mamata said, “My infection became septic because of wrong treatment. Saline channels were inserted into my arms, and I was in that situation for seven days. I could not get up.”
Mamata, who is also the health minister of the state, was treated at SSKM Hospital, one of Kolkata’s premier healthcare institutions, after she sustained injuries to her knee while disembarking from a helicopter during the campaign for panchayat elections.
BJP MLA and Leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated Mamata in Nandigram in the 2021 Assembly elections, demanded her resignation as the state’s health minister. “This is the fallout of an attempt to turn the most prestigious state-run hospital into a safe haven for Trinamool Congress thieves. The chief minister herself expressed the standard of treatment at the super-specialty hospital. Under the tenure of the incompetent health minister, doctors are forced to focus more on preparing fake documents under administrative pressure than on treating patients,” Adhikari said.
Echoing Adhikari’s demand for Mamata’s resignation as the health minister, BJP MP and former state party president Dilip Ghosh said, “If this is the treatment our chief minister receives at a state-run hospital, imagine the plight of common people who have no option left but to visit government hospitals. CPI(M)’s Sujan Chakrabarty said the chief minister’s confession reflects the real healthcare picture in West Bengal.
BJP demands CM’s resignation
BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated Mamata in Nandigram in the 2021 Assembly elections, demanded her resignation as the state’s health minister. “This is the fallout of an attempt to turn the most prestigious state-run hospital into a safe haven for Trinamool Congress thieves,” said Adhikari.