Authorities of all private nursing homes in and around Siliguri must put up a display board at their establishments saying they accept the Swasthya Sathi card and update health officials of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts daily on the availability of beds and medicines and treatment charge for Covid-19 patients.

The decision was taken at a meeting in Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) in the presence of Gautam Deb, who is the chairman of the four-member board of administrators of the civic body, on Tuesday, with representatives of nursing homes within the civic area.

“Over the past couple of months, a number of complaints have come to us out against these private clinics...over-charging, non-transparency on beds and denial of (Covid) treatment in lieu of the state’s health card (Swasthya Sathi, given to people under the state’s free health insurance scheme). That is why we held this meeting” said Deb.

He said a committee of representatives of the district health department and administration will monitor the entire Covid-19 treatment procedure at these clinics.

“None of these clinics can charge abnormal fees from any patient. In case of emergency, they have to admit the patient first and later claim admission charges,” added Deb.

Deb said an oxygen plant will be operational at the Siliguri district hospital from Sunday. A similar project at North Bengal Medical College and Hospital will be operational soon. “The proposed oxygen plant at NBMCH is a major project and will have the capacity to produce 1,000 litres of oxygen in a minute,” he said.

“The district magistrate of Darjeeling has been instructed to be in touch with the agency that will develop the plant and see that the project is expedited,” he added.