Bengal hospitals to get 24-hour live monitoring via control rooms, says CM Adhikari
Synopsis
West Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari has announced round-the-clock live monitoring of district hospitals from a central control room at Swastha Bhavan — targeting doctor absenteeism, unjustified patient referrals, and broker networks in one move. Paired with a shift from Swastha Sathi to Ayushman Bharat for six crore residents, Saturday's announcements signal a sweeping reset of the state's public health architecture.
Key Takeaways
CM Suvendu Adhikari announced 24-hour live monitoring of West Bengal district hospitals on 30 May , operated from Swastha Bhavan, Salt Lake .
The system targets three chronic problems: doctor absenteeism , unjustified patient referrals to Kolkata, and hospital broker networks .
A dedicated complaint helpline will allow patients and families to report grievances directly to the control room.
Approximately six crore West Bengal residents will be shifted from Swastha Sathi to the Ayushman Bharat Scheme .
The state is searching for land for an AIIMS unit in North Bengal .
Private hospitals that received land at Re 1 from the previous government must now provide mandatory free beds for economically weaker patients.
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday, 30 May announced that the state health department will launch live monitoring of district hospitals across West Bengal through dedicated control rooms, targeting three chronic failures in the public healthcare system. The announcement was made on the sidelines of a cervical cancer vaccination camp inauguration at Bidhannagar, on the northern outskirts of Kolkata.
What the Live Monitoring System Covers
The 24-hour control room will be operated from Swastha Bhavan, the state health department headquarters at Salt Lake, and will cover district hospitals as well as medical colleges and hospitals across West Bengal. Adhikari said the government is hiring professionals specifically to run the system.
Patients and their family members will be able to register complaints directly by dialling a dedicated control-room number, giving citizens a formal grievance channel for the first time under this framework.
Three Malaises the Government Wants to Fix
The Chief Minister identified three long-standing problems the monitoring system is designed to address: doctors absenting themselves during official duty hours, the rampant and often unjustified referral of patients to medical colleges and hospitals in Kolkata, and the operation of agents and broker networks inside public hospitals.
'There will be a 24-hour control room to monitor functioning of the district hospitals. We are hiring professionals to ensure that no broker operates in the hospitals and that no patient is referred unnecessarily. The government will adopt a zero-tolerance policy in this matter,' Adhikari told reporters at the event.
Ayushman Bharat to Replace Swastha Sathi for 6 Crore Residents
In a significant policy shift, Adhikari said approximately six crore people of West Bengal will be brought under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, which is set to replace Swastha Sathi — the state health insurance programme introduced by the previous Mamata Banerjee-led government. The transition marks a formal alignment with the Centre's flagship health coverage programme after years of the state operating its own parallel scheme.
AIIMS Unit for North Bengal, Free Beds in Private Hospitals
The Chief Minister added that the state government has already begun identifying land for a proposed unit of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in North Bengal, a long-pending demand from the region.
He also announced that private hospitals which had acquired land at just Re 1 from the previous government will now be required to mandatorily introduce free-bed systems. 'Patients coming from economically weak backgrounds will get the treatment facilities for free over there,' Adhikari said. This condition is being positioned as a quid pro quo for the heavily subsidised land those institutions received.
What Comes Next
The control room infrastructure is expected to go operational across district hospitals and medical colleges statewide, with Swastha Bhavan serving as the nerve centre. How quickly the system scales, whether the broker-network crackdown produces measurable results, and how the Ayushman Bharat transition is managed without disrupting existing Swastha Sathi beneficiaries will be the key tests for the Adhikari administration in the months ahead.
Point of View
Implicitly indicting the previous government for tolerating doctor absenteeism and broker rackets. The replacement of Swastha Sathi with Ayushman Bharat is the more consequential move: it ends West Bengal's years-long resistance to the Centre's health scheme, potentially unlocking federal funding but also ceding a flagship welfare brand the TMC built its identity around. The free-bed mandate for Re-1-land hospitals is overdue accountability, but enforcement history in Indian public health suggests the harder test is follow-through, not announcement.
NationPress
10 Aug 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the live monitoring system announced for West Bengal hospitals?
It is a 24-hour control room system operated from Swastha Bhavan, Salt Lake, that will track the functioning of district hospitals and medical colleges across West Bengal in real time. The system is designed to curb doctor absenteeism, unjustified patient referrals to Kolkata, and the operation of broker networks inside public hospitals.
How can patients file complaints under the new system?
Patients and their family members can dial a dedicated control-room number to lodge complaints directly with the monitoring cell at Swastha Bhavan. The helpline is part of the new live-monitoring framework announced by CM Adhikari on 30 May.
Why is West Bengal replacing Swastha Sathi with Ayushman Bharat?
CM Adhikari announced that approximately six crore West Bengal residents will be brought under the Centre's Ayushman Bharat Scheme, replacing the state's own Swastha Sathi programme introduced by the previous Mamata Banerjee government. The shift aligns the state with the national health insurance framework, though the transition timeline has not yet been detailed.
What is the free-bed mandate for private hospitals?
Private hospitals that acquired land at Re 1 from the previous West Bengal government will now be required to provide mandatory free beds for patients from economically weaker backgrounds. CM Adhikari framed this as a condition tied to the heavily subsidised land those institutions received.
What is the status of the proposed AIIMS unit in North Bengal?
The West Bengal government has begun searching for land to set up a unit of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in North Bengal, according to CM Adhikari. No timeline or specific location has been confirmed yet.
