No Hospital Can Deny Treatment to COVID-19 Patients: West Bengal Govt

The West Bengal Government said on Thursday that no approval is needed by any hospital for individual testing of COVID-19 as per the protocol of the Indian Medical Research Council (ICMR).

In the advisory, the government directed all hospitals in the state not to refuse health care to any individual "for every cause whatsoever."

The advisory was issued a day after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee instructed private hospitals not to refuse any patients visiting them to manage coronavirus infection.

The Chief Minister's appeal came after claims were made that certain private hospitals were failing to treat patients with coronavirus symptoms.

The state government has collaborated with 51 private hospitals to treat COVID-19 patients and is bearing all the expenses of their treatment, the chief minister said on Wednesday.