Kolkata: Two separate cases of alleged medical negligence rocked two private hospitals in Kolkata on Wednesday. While the first involved the death of a 32-year man, the other concerned the demise of a two-and-a-half year old girl child.
Gautam Pal, 32, died on Wednesday morning at Woodlands Hospital in Alipore amid claims from family members that the body was sneaked out of the hospital back gate and taken to the state-run SSKM Hospital without informing his relatives. His family staged a road block for nearly 30 minutes in protest.
Pal, a resident of Salkia in Howrah, was admitted to Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital with injuries on his hand and foot on January 15. He was then shifted to Woodlands. His family claimed he was fine till Tuesday evening when they spoke to him on video call. This morning the family was shocked to get a call from the hospital saying the patient had died. An FIR was lodged against the hospital at Alipore police station.
Ugly scenes were also witnessed at the Mukundapur unit of AMRI Hospital after two-and-a-half year old Oyetri Dey, who was suffering from respiratory distress, collapsed and her parents and relatives alleged medical negligence on part of the hospital. The child was reportedly running high fever when she was admitted on January 15 and developed sudden convulsion this morning. Denying charges of negligence, hospital authorities claimed all attempts of resuscitation failed despite best efforts.
Parents and relatives also alleged that the hospital’s unit head, Jayanti Chatterjee, misbehaved with and threatened them when they were trying to register a protest. The hospital management claimed it was an act of “self-defense” after she was manhandled by the angry protestors. While parents have lodged an FIR against the hospital at the local Purba Jadavpur police station, hospital authorities confirmed that a counter complaint has been lodged with the police against the physical harassment of Chatterjee and attempted vandalism of the hospital premises.
The hospital, meanwhile, has initiated an internal probe into the alleged misbehaviour of the unit head.
Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had publicly condemned the management of several private hospitals and even set up a medical commission after complaints of negligence and over charging patients led to repeated instances of vandalism at the premises of several private hospitals in Kolkata last year.
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