Swasthyasathi is mandatory for all hospitals at West Bengal – Non-acceptance will result hospital’s egistration cancellation

Abhijit Ray, Kolkata.The state government has taken a stricter decision on healthcare. The health department informed that the nursing homes which have at least 10 beds should come under the health partner scheme. Failure to do so may result in cancellation of the license or registration of the nursing home under the Clinical Establishment Act. According to the Health Department, Swasthyasathi is a social project and it is on force at West Bengal.SwasthyaSathi is a cashless scheme and treatment cost up to Rs 5,00,000 (Five Lakhs per annum per family) shall be paid to the Hospital from the smart card. No Payment is to be made for treatment under SwasthyaSathi Scheme by the beneficiary. This step is to ensure that the people of the state get the benefits of this scheme free of cost.A notification was also issued on February 14, 2020. But in some cases this order is not obeyed, now the health department is dealing with the situation with a strong hand. While corporate hospitals mostly come under the scheme, district nursing homes are not complying with the directive in many cases. There are about 4,200 nursing homes in the state. Out of which 1,700 nursing homes have bed capacity between 10-100 beds. 300 crores per month only in healthcare projects.Bills are settled within one month of the patient leaving the hospital or nursing home. Common people will bebenefited from this decision of the state.