Hospital kills
86 patients at Kolkatas upscale AMRI Hospital choke to death in pre-dawn fire; owners arrested
A fire ripped through a seven-storey hospital here before dawn today,killing at least 90 people,all of them patients barring just four nursing staff,who were asleep when the blaze started.
The horrific tragedy at the 190-bed Advanced Medical Research Institute AMRI Hospital in Dhakuria,a super-speciality upscale private hospital which charges an average of over Rs 3,500 per night per bed and flaunts its No.1 city ranking for Emergency Care in a national hospital survey by The Week magazine sparked outrage across the city and the nation.
There were 165 patients in the building at the time of the fire. About 75 of them died in their hospital beds while the rest were rescued and shifted to other AMRI and nearby hospitals. Most of the victims were patients admitted in critical care and orthopaedic units and were unable to move.
There were 120 nursing staff and at least 12 doctors on the roster for night duty on Thursday but except for four nursing staff,all are safe. This prompted patients relatives to raise questions about their role.
As shocked and traumatised relatives counted the dead,R S Goenka and S K Todi,of the Emami and Shrachi groups respectively,and four partners who own the hospital,surrendered to the police this afternoon. They were arrested on charges that include attempt to commit culpable homicide Section 308 of IPC; culpable homicide not amounting to murder Section 304 of IPC; negligible conduct to fire or any combustible matter,any act so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life Section 285 of IPC.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee,who is also the Health Minister,visited the hospital,ordered a probe and directed the cancellation of licence of the hospital. The fire,said West Bengal Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim,was first detected at around 3:30 am by local residents who rushed to the gate but were turned away by security guards following which the fire spread swiftly.
Tushar Pramanik,a private security personnel of the NIS security agency posted at the hospital,said that he and his colleagues noticed the fire in the basement which was used to store medicine and hospital waste. The store is run by a private medical company. We tried to douse the fire but failed to control it, said Pramanik. The fire and the smoke spread swiftly through the airconditioning ducts. The hospital is centrally air conditioned with fixed glass window panes which are hard to open and break.
Local residents had another version. A woman who stays in a multi-storied building next to the hospital said without being named: I came out to the balcony hearing some noise at about 3.30 in the morning. The security persons of the hospitals were running outside the building. A number of patients were standing in front of glass windows and some of them flashed torchlights seeking help. I could see how patients were shouting for help but black smoke gradually engulfed the floors, she said.
About 100-odd young men from local slums approached hospital security and asked them to unlock the gates so that they could help in rescue operations but security guards refused entry. Police reached there after 4 am and it was only then that local youths could enter and rescue patients from the first and second floors before the arrival of the fire brigade. The locals claimed they rescued at least 40 patients and more could have been saved had they been allowed to enter.
The chemicals and waste in the basement thickened the smoke,a fire officer said,and covered the entire hospital with a thick layer of soot.
Fire Services Minister Javed Khan said the fire spread because the hospital did not have proper fire-fighting equipment . As smoke billowed out,firefighters used ladders with platforms and smashed window panes to rescue patients trapped inside the Intensive Care Unit,Intensive Therapy Unit and Critical Care Unit.
They evacuated patients with pulleys from the upper floors,in many cases using hospital sheets.Additional Director General,Fire Services,D Biswas said that the fire brigade was informed at 4:10 am and responded immediately but relatives of victims alleged that there was inordinate delay in the rescue operations.
Relatives alleged the AMRI staff fled instead of rescuing the patients. Among the casualties were three staff members,AMRI Senior Vice-President S Upadhyay said.
The state government announced a compensation of Rs 3 lakh each to the next of kin of the victims and offered employment if needed; AMRI Hospital announced Rs 5 lakh as compensation for the next of kin of those who died,while those injured would be treated free at the hospital. All dues of those admitted when the fire broke out would be waived.Kolkata Municipal Corporation DG building Devasish Kar said that the basement was used for storing combustible articles and not for car parking for which it was meant when the building was constructed in 2004-5. It is an administrative lapse, Kar said.
In July 1996,Emami and Shrachi Groups had joined hands with Government of West Bengal and taken over the ailing state-run healthcare unit off Dhakuria bridge,Niramoy Polyclinic,to opened it as AMRI Hospitals one of the first public-private-partnership healthcare projects of the state. Jyoti Basu,the then Chief Minister,handed the hospital over to the two business groups.
A high-level committee,with representatives from police,fire brigade,Kolkata Municipal Corporation and health department,has been formed to go into the cause of the fire. Kolkata Police Commissioner RK Pachnanda said Joint Commissioner of Police Crime Damayanti Sen would supervise the functioning of the committee.
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