Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Wednesday urged government doctors and staff to stand up and be counted as he stressed on improving health services.

“We are living in a strange world where we have wealth accumulated in a few hands and extreme poverty and illiteracy among the majority. But we want to improve. We are working on ways to increase supply of medicines, the number of public health workers and health infrastructure,” he told a gathering of doctors at the 25th anniversary of the Association of Health Service Doctors (West Bengal).

Bhattacharjee, who was accompanied by state Health Minister Surjyakanta Mishra, said the state is rated high in comparison with other states on basic health parameters, such as birth and death rate, infant mortality, average life expectancy and neonatal mortality. He said this is, however, not enough and more needs to be done to ensure that basic healthcare reaches people at the grassroots level.

Referring to the increasing incidents of attacks on hospitals and doctors by patients’ families, he said it was not for the public to decide if a doctor has erred in his diagnosis.

Doctors get CM’s pat
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee lauded the government doctors working in Lalgarh and Aila-struck districts. Speaking at a function on Wednesday, Bhattacharjee said that in spite of limited strength the doctors there have done an exceptional job. “In Lalgarh, there was only one doctor. Now, two more have gone there. They are working under difficult circumstances, but they are doing their job. During one of my visits to Aila-affected areas, I noticed that there were only seven-odd doctors in a certain block. I told them to let me know if they need more medical supplies,” Bhattacharjee said.