After many rounds of public spat between the West Bengal government and the Centre over the State’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak, another visiting Central team has said that it was “totally floored” by the arrangements at the State-run Infectious Disease Hospital at Beliaghata in east-central Kolkata.
The second Central team came to Kolkata on May 3, the day the first Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) left the city.
The new team, which is led by Dr. Aparajita Dasgupta and Dr. Lina Bandyopadhyay, visited the IDBG on Wednesday.
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“I am totally floored by the arrangements, infrastructure and the care meted out to the patients of IDBG (Infectious Disease Hospital at Beliaghata),” writes Dr. Dasgupta in the visitors’ address book of the health facility. The team further noted that “it is one or rarest of hospital providing food, transport and lodging to all who are involved in the [treatment] of COVID-19 patients.”
Kolkata is one of the 20 severely affected districts in the State. “As many as 20 Central Public Health Teams from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare have been formed and are being sent to the 20 districts that are reporting the maximum number of COVID-19 cases in the country…the teams shall assist the State governments,” an official release noted on May 3.
“The officials provided data within minutes because all was at their fingertips. The cleanliness, efficiency and sincerity…and the dedication among the health personnel has impressed us,” the Central team noted.
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A senior government doctor felt the small note would go a long way towards cementing the relationship between the State and Central teams and they would work more closely to combat COVID-19.