The meeting at the Jalpaiguri circuit house on Tuesday. Picture by Biplab Basak

Siliguri, June 24: The Bengal government will identify 20 primary health centres in each district and develop them to provide 24-hour treatment to patients.

State health minister Surjya Kanta Mishra said this today after a review meeting with health officials of the six north Bengal districts at the Jalpaiguri circuit house.

“Considering the upsurge in the number of patients across the state, especially in rural areas, we have decided to identify 20 health centres in each district and provide them with the necessary infrastructure and manpower to ensure that they can be kept open round-the-clock,” Mishra said.

The centres will be identified on the basis of patient inflow, the minister added.

Mishra also reviewed his department’s initiatives to stave off malaria in Jalpaiguri district, where the disease claims a number of lives each year. “Till date, only one person has died of the disease in 2008,” he said. “However, we have told health officials that there is no time to relax.”

Official sources said the malaria toll in Jalpaiguri was 97 in 2006 and 47 in 2007.

On the subject of providing healthcare to residents of closed tea estates in the region, Mishra said: “District health officials have been asked to ensure that mobile medical units visit the gardens at regular intervals.”