Kolkata: On Doctors' Day, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari took a swipe at previous dispensations in West Bengal, saying they left the state's public healthcare system in a "dilapidated" condition and his administration was dealing with the consequences.
The day is observed in honour of noted doctor and former West Bengal chief minister Bidhan Chandra Roy, whose birth and death anniversaries coincide on July 1.
Speaking at an event to mark the occasion, Adhikari flagged the conditions of state-run hospitals of West Bengal.
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"Is this deteriorated condition of the state's hospitals desirable? West Bengal has the talent to compete with any country in the world. But what happened during the previous government's tenure?" he said.
Giving a call for a unified approach in reviving the state's healthcare sector, the state's first BJP chief minister urged everyone to work hand-in-hand to pull the state's health infrastructure out of the "dilapidated" state.
"We have to revive the state's healthcare infrastructure. I urge all to come together for this," Adhikari said.
The chief minister said that while attempting to implement new initiatives, he was constantly encountering the effects of what he described as years of "administrative decay".
Adhikari referred to a remark once made by former chief minister Jyoti Basu.
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"(Jyoti) Basu had said that wherever he wanted to begin work, he found that Dr Roy had already laid the foundation. My situation is the opposite. Wherever I want to begin work, I find destruction," he said.
At the programme in Mayukh Bhavan in Salt Lake, the chief minister also announced that Bidhannagar Sub-Divisional Hospital would be renamed as 'Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy Multispeciality Hospital'.
The programme was also attended by state health minister Sharadwat Mukhopadhyay, Urban Development Minister Agnimitra Pal and several other dignitaries.
