West Bengal Chief Minister and Health Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday inaugurated a new 10-story building at SSKM Hospital in Kolkata, underscoring her government’s investments in public healthcare and marking the opening of several other health-related projects across the state.
Built at a cost of 6.7 billion rupees ($80 million), the newly inaugurated “Woodburn 2” building has been renamed “Anannya” by Banerjee herself. The block houses 131 cabins and aims to provide infrastructure on par with leading private hospitals in the city.
Banerjee also announced the daily rental charges for different categories of cabins and beds. Single cabins will cost 5,000 rupees, single suites 8,000 rupees, HDU-equipped beds 12,000 rupees, and ITU beds 15,000 rupees. She said hospital authorities had initially proposed rates 2,000 rupees higher, but she reduced them to make the facilities more affordable.
“This infrastructure will rival even the best private hospitals,” Banerjee said at the event, which also saw the inauguration of 15 projects and the foundation stone for three others, most of them linked to healthcare. Among them was a bone bank at Sambhunath Pandit Hospital and the remote inauguration of a building constructed by the Khilafat Committee.
The launch came almost exactly a year after West Bengal’s health system faced massive public protests following the rape and murder of a young doctor at R.G. Kar Hospital in Kolkata. That episode triggered unprecedented demonstrations by junior doctors and pushed Banerjee’s administration into crisis, with demands for the removal of senior officials including Health Secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam. On Monday, Nigam was present on stage with Banerjee, a sign of how far the situation has changed in a year.
Banerjee used the occasion to highlight her government’s record in healthcare spending. “In 2011, the state’s health budget was just 36.84 billion rupees. Today it stands at 213.55 billion rupees,” she said. She pointed to free pediatric heart surgeries and the Health Sathi scheme as examples of how the expansion has benefited ordinary citizens. According to her, more than 80 million people in the state have availed services under Health Sathi, with about 7,000 patients using the program daily.
During the event, Banerjee was also informed that SSKM Hospital had been included in the BRICS Network. In celebration, she announced a grant of 1 million rupees for the institution.
Analysts said the high-profile inauguration, along with Banerjee’s emphasis on expanded health spending, reflected both governance priorities and the political importance of healthcare after last year’s turmoil.
