West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on June 5 slammed the Centre for the rise in the price of anti-rabies vaccine, making it scarce for the common man.

"Anti-rabies vaccines are not available in designated shops as the Centre has increased tax leading to its price escalation," Banerjee said after reviewing the state's health situation at a meeting. The Medical Council of India has been asked to look into the issue, she told reporters. Banerjee again raised the NEET question paper issue claiming that the different types of translations in English and Bengali languages deprived the students of the state from faring better.

"They (Centre) have given less emphasis on regional priorities which took away the advantage from our boys and girls to use their mother tongue and practice in their own locality," she said. "We have asked the MCI and Centre to address this issue", she said. Banerjee had on May 7 written to the Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar alleging "irregularities" in the conduct of the national medical entrance examination NEET in the state and said the ministry could consider re-examination at some of the affected centres.

She said senior police officers were present at the meeting to discuss ways to cope with situations in hospitals when doctors and other employees are attacked. "While the police should be able to cope with any emerging situation, doctors should be able to serve patients without any (law and order) problem", she said.

"Doctors should work with the motto of 'service with smile', while patients should appreciate the tremendous pressure doctors work under," she said. Stating there had been improvement in healthcare sector since her government came to power, Banerjee said. She said 1900 hospital equipment were found to be defunct when she became chief minister in 2011, 1700 equipment were made usable again.

Banerjee said with the improvement in facilities, patients started coming here from neigbouring states and countries but more needed to be done. The CM said that 27,000 new beds had been added in state-run hospitals and 2 lakh patients being treated daily across state hospitals and in OPDs. There has also been substantial rise in the number of doctors in all these years though the number should be more.