HEALTH

The development in the sphere of health has been quite remarkable in Kalyani helping it to become one of the major centres of health outside Kolkata. The development is quite viable and eye catching. The earliest hospital that was built in Kalyani was during Second World War which was disbanded after the army base in Kalyani also known as Roosevelt Town was abandoned. This was known as the Army Hospital according to the opinion of the earlier residents of the rural settlements around the town. This later grew up as the Kanchrapara T.B. Hospital which was later renamed as Netaji Subhas Sanatorium on his birthday and was inaugurated by the then chief minister of West Bengal Mr. Siddharta Shankar Roy in 1976.

As time slowly progressed, the town slowly moved into the time when the Indian National Congress session was held in Kalyani in 1954. During this time, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, the founder of the town made a temporary health centre rather a small hospital for the delegates of the session. Some remains of this hospital is found in the area near the 2 no. market in the B-block. However, the first hospital in a proper sense came up in the form of Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Hospital in the year 1966. At the time of its foundation it was one of a kind giving the best possible treatment not only to the people of Kalyani but also other places of Nadia, North 24 Parganas, Murshidabad, Hooghly and so on. Dr. Roy was the main planner of this hospital who also tried to develop it into a Referal Cases hospital. The foundation stone of the hospital was laid in the year 1961 covering an area around 76 acres of land in the A Block division of the town. The hospital is especially renowned for its 550 beds facility. The hospital was inaugurated by Mr. Ajit Kumar Panja (Then Health Minister of the state) on 1^st December,1966. The first super of the Hospital was Dr. N.C.Sengupta. In the year 2009, a government medical college also came up beside the premises of the hospital.

In the next year that is 1967, a Health and Family Planning Training Centre was formed on the southern side of the hospital. The first coordinator of this centre was Dr. Makhan Lal Dutta Roy. Along with the academic classes for the students the hostel facility was also available. In the same year Rural Health Development Centre was established in the E Block of the town on the eastern side of the railway line from Kalyani to Ranaghat.

In the year 1968, the E.S.I Hospital came up in Kalyani for providing health facilities and benefits for the industrial workers of West Bengal along with their family members. This was formed due to the initiative of Government of West Bengal. This was built in A Block comprising of 266 beds over an area of 30 acres. The foundation stone was laid in the year 1964 by the then workers and labour minister of the state Mr. Gopal Das Nag. It was finally inaugurated on 26^th December, 1968 by the then governor Mr. Dharamvir. The first super of the hospital was Dr. N.L.Saha.

Consequently, in the year 1968, another hospital was opened for Cardio Thoracic treatment only known as the Gandhi Memorial Hospital. This was inaugurated by Mr. Dharamvir but the inauguration ceremony was presided by the then chief minister of West Bengal Mr. Prafulla Chandra Sen. Quite interestingly, the hospital initially grew up exclusively for the jute workers but later on it was made for all under the direct control of the West Bengal state government. The first Open Heart Surgery outside Kolkata was started here by the famous Cardio-Thoraic Surgeon Dr. Sadhan Chandra Roy.

In the year 1972, an organisation named State Ayurvedic Pharmacy was formed on the eastern side of Kalyani-Ranaghat railway line. The main function of the organisation was to supervise the production of ayurvedic medicine and transport to different parts of the state. At that time it was under the supervision of Mr. Suyakanta Roy and Dr. S.P.Goswami. Later on another unit came up in 1981 for the production and distribution of Homeopathic medicine. In the year 1994, both the units came together to form the Integrated Ayurvedic and Homeopathic Drug Production and Research Centre. Along with the production, research activities were also carried out here. Along with this, under its initiative a land area of 33 acres was converted into a ground of production of medicinal herbs. This area of medicinal herbs was inaugurated by the Minister of Health and Family Development of West Bengal Mr. Partha Dey. The first coordinator of this institute was Dr. C.S.Ghosh.

The Institute of Pharmacy was formed in the year 1975 inaugurated by Dr. Ajit Kumar Panja (Health minister of the State). At that time it was the second in the state. The students are granted the diploma of Pharmacy here approved by the Technical Education Council.

In the years 1993 and 1994 Nurul Hasan Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research came up after the name of the Governor of Bengal Mr. Nurul Hasan. The foundation stone was laid by the then president of India Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma.

Other than these there are number of private nursing homes that grew up such as Health Care, Millenium Nursing Home, Central Nursing Home, Mediview, S.N.R.Carnival and so on. However, the Kalyani Nursing Home was the first nursing home that came up in the town.