The City of Joy witnessed one of its gloomiest hours in recent history when a massive fire broke out at a leading hospital in the wee hours on Friday, killing at least 90 people due to suffocation from smoke. The tragedy occurred at the 190-bed AMRI Hospital at Dhakuria. Most of the victims were patients in sleep — in critical-care and orthopaedic units. Some of the patients were rescued. They were shifted to two AMRI units in Dhakuria and SSKM Hospital.
The disaster had its direct fallout on the hospital administration. Police took to custody six of its board members. The arrests followed their surrender. The West Bengal government, too, swung into action, by cancelling the license of the Dhakuria hospital with immediate effect.
The blaze was first detected in an annexe building of the seven-storeyed hospital around 3.30 am. Locals later said they, on spotting it, sought to help, but were stopped by the hospital’s security guards at the gate. Worse, the fire fighting force reached the spot almost two hours late.
The flames were brought under control within hours, but the smoke that billowed resulted in the deaths. Three among them were hospital staff; the rest were patients. Sources said there were at least 160 people inside the hospital at the time of the accident. The toll was expected to rise, as many of the survivors were in critical condition. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee visited the spot and ordered the health department to initiate cancellation of the licence of the Dhakuria hospital. “Law will take its own course,” she told reporters.
Later, the fire brigade lodged an FIR against the hospital authorities — under non-bailable charges. What followed was the arrests of six board members: directors of the venture R S Goenka, Manish Goenka and Prashant Goenka of Emami Group, S K Todi and Ravi Todi of Shrachi groups, and D N Agarwal, executive director of AMRI Hospitals.
An inquiry is on to go into the cause of the fire. The government has formed a high-level committee, with representatives from police, fire brigade, Kolkata Municipal Corporation and health department.
Advance Medicare and Research Institute (AMRI) Hospitals Ltd is a joint venture between Emami Ltd and Kolkata-based developer Shrachi besides the state government. While Emami holds more than 66 per cent stake in the venture, Shrachi has above 30 per cent. The government owns about 2 per cent stake.
CPI(M) leader Surjya Kanta Mishra recalled that the government had about 7 per cent share at the start of the venture. “That was in return of the land alloted to the Group.” The stake subsequently reduced to about 2 per cent at present, added Mishra, a former health minister and now the leader of the Opposition in the assembly.
Many note that the death toll increased because the fire brigade had difficulty in entering the hospital premises as the approach roads were narrow. State urban development minister Firhad Hakim alleged even locals who spotted fire were denied entry in their bid to rescue people. Concurred a resident of the locality: “Every door was locked. Even the windows. The later affected the rescue operations as well. The patients died of asphyxiation.”
The union government announced and ex-gratia of Rs 200,000 for the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured. AMRI has announced Rs 500,000 to the bereaved families. The state also announced a compensation of Rs 300,000 each to the next of kin of the victims and offered employment.
The Group, in a statement later, said the affected patients would be treated free of cost.
As for the late arrival of the fire brigade, D Biswas, Additional Director General of Fire Services department, said his force was informed about the accident only around 4.10 am. “The patients, who died, were those admitted in the critical care and orthopedic units. They were unable to move,” he told journalists. “If the hospital had proper fire fighting arrangements, the tragedy would have been of a much lesser scale.”
AMRI Hospitals denied the charge. S Upadhyay, its senior vice-president said AMRI always took sufficient safety measures. “We follow strict fire safety measures, we conduct regular fire drills,” he claimed. “All statutory safety and fire licenses are in place.”
According to state officials, the basement which caught fire was supposed to be for car parking. Instead, that was where the hospital authorities apparently stored combustible articles.
All the major events slated for on Friday in the city were cancelled. President Pratibha Patil and Parliament expressed condolence.
This is one of the worst fire accidents in city. On March last year, more than 43 people lost their lives when Stephen Court building on Park Street caught fire.
