Kolkata, Sep 9 (IANS): The West Bengal government has now taken an official decision not to offer free treatment facilities to foreign patients in state-run hospitals.

A formal notification on this count was issued by the state health department on Saturday.

The notification says that while any foreign patient coming to a state-run hospital for treatment on an emergency basis will have to pay a certain amount of fees.

In case of treatments covered under the state government's health insurance schemes, the fees that the foreign patients will have to pay will be equivalent to the amount fixed for the treatments.

However, in case of non-specified treatments, the hospitals will have the liberty to fix the rates for foreign patients.

Department sources said that recently it came to the audit officers hat huge amounts of money were draining out of the state exchequer because of the free-treatment of thousands of overseas patients every year, majority of whom are from neighbouring Bangladesh.

The state government had recently formed a detailed policy about the treatment of overseas patients in state-run hospitals.

A four-member committee was also constituted which also opined against the free treatment facilities.