AMRI hospital tragedy: Directors remanded to police custody
A Kolkata court on Saturday remanded the six directors of AMRI hospital to police custody till December 20. The directors were arrested on Friday after a devastating fire and resultant fumes at the hospital left 86 patients and four staff dead.
SIX DIRECTORS of AMRI hospital, where 91 patients and four staff were choked to death on Friday, were remanded to police custody till December 20 by a Kolkata court on Saturday. Another director, who has been hospitalized, will be produced before the court later. Appearing on behalf of the Government, advocate Kalyan Banerjee accused the hospital authorities of reckless violation of safety norms and said the criminal negligence had resulted in the death of hapless patients.
The lawyers’ association of the court urged their colleagues not to appear on behalf of the hospital authorities. A small mob, which gathered in the court, also shouted slogans and demonstrated against the directors of the hospital.
Earlier on the day a minor fire broke out in the affected building and the fire fighters immediately doused it.
The death roll now stood at 91, official sources said. Most of the bodies had been identified by their relatives, they pointed out.
Eyewitnesses claimed that most of the victims were senior citizens. “They were not in a position to move out of the unit and break the window panes and were forced to suffocate till death. The patients had virtually been deserted by the hospital authorities,” they alleged.
Meanwhile, it was revealed during inquiry that the State Government too had a minor stake in the hospital and two members on the board of the hospital, including the present chairman. “How can the State Government avoid its responsibility?” asked a close relative of one of the victims.
It was also revealed that the fire brigade authorities, who had earlier warned the hospital authorities on insufficient and ineffective arrangements, did not carry out the follow up actions.
City Mayor Shovan Chatterjee said he had already ordered a probe to ascertain as to how the hospital authorities got the municipal clearance despite violation of norms.
Hospital authorities, however, claimed that they had not violated any norms and had done nothing illegal. “Let there be a probe and the truth will come out,” a spokesperson of the hospital said.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who visited the ill-fated hospital and the morgue at the State run SSKM hospital on Friday, ordered the cancellation of the license of the hospital and directed the police to file a case of criminal negligence against the hospital authorities. Accordingly all the four buildings of AMRI hospital in South Kolkata’s Dhakuria area had been sealed and the directors were arrested. Two of the directors reportedly surrendered before the police.
Official sources said most of the victims were from city and suburbs. However, the victims included patients from Jharkhand, Bihar, Tripura and Bangladesh. Arrangements had been made to send the bodies of the victims from the neighbouring states and the country to their respective native places, the sources added.
Leaders of different political parties expressed their shock over one of the worst incident of fire in a hospital and appealed to the Government to take all necessary steps to prevent any such incident in future. They also demanded exemplary punishment for the offenders.
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