No approval is required for admitting, treating patients in healthcare facilities: West Bengal govt

Responding to the guidelines issued by the Centre on the resumption of services in the health sector, West Bengal government on Thursday issued an advisory, saying that no approval is required for admitting or treating patients in any healthcare facility or for testing an individual for COVID-19.

"It is clarified that no government approval is required for either admitting or treating any patient in any healthcare facility or for testing an individual for COVID-19 as per ICMR's testing protocol. No patient can be denied health services for any reason," said Vivek Kumar, Principal Secretary of West Bengal.

"...It may be noted that no patient can be denied health services for any reason whatsoever," he added.

Earlier, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had issued guidelines on the early normalization of services in the health sector for providing non-COVID-19 essential services to patients.

( With inputs from ANI )