Inaugurating West Bengal's first trauma care centre at a state-run hospital in Kolkata, Chief Minister on 1st July said the state is in the need for 4,000 more doctors.

She described the Rs 100 crore facility set up at the SSKM Hospital as "the best trauma care centre in the country". "The state government has spent Rs 100 crore to set up the trauma care centre with 150 beds. Another Rs 14 crore has been allotted for buying equipment for scanning and MRI," the chief minister said at the inaugural programme.

She, also the Trinamool Congress supremo, said around 760 posts have been created for the trauma care centre. Claiming that the healthcare system in West Bengal has improved immensely since her party came to power in 2011, she asserted that the state is in the need for over 4,000 doctors.

"In terms of social impact and financial spend, West Bengal's state of healthcare is the best in the country. The number of hospital beds has increased by 28,000 and the number of medical colleges by 20. The number of medical education seats has also increased to 3,800. "We still need 4,000 more doctors. For providing effective service in rural areas, doctors need to learn the local language," she said.

The number of nurses has increased from 32,000 to 52,900, more nursing colleges have been set up and posts for male nurses have been created in government hospitals, she said at the programme held on the Doctors' Day, the birth and death anniversary of Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy. On the occasion of the day, she honoured 30 doctors from government and private sectors for their achievements in their respective fields of medicine.

From next year, nurses would also be honoured along with medicos on the Doctors' Day, she said.  "Though our government is not financially very strong, we try our best to give our medical personnel monetary rewards," she said.