The Chorebagan Sarbajanin puja tragedy bared the “sorry state of affairs” at a premier tertiary care hospital in Bengal, alleged junior doctors and interns of the government medical college where the injured were initially taken and later shifted to a private facility.
Around 1.25am on Sunday, a group of junior doctors, interns and MBBS students at Medical College Kolkata organised a news conference, where they alleged mismanagement at the institution.
They said the hospital lacked a trauma care centre, the emergency ward was missing essential medicines, and the neurosurgery department was ill-equipped to handle critical cases.
The government’s decision to shift the injured persons to a private hospital amounted to the state admitting its healthcare system was in a shambles, they said.
“Around seven to eight injured persons were brought here. Initial treatment was started. But we received a directive from the Swasthya Bhavan via the MSVP and departmental heads that the patient parties were given an option. They could get their kin treated at a big private hospital. The government will bear their treatment expenses,” said a junior doctor.
“Medical College Kolkata is one of the top tertiary hospitals in the state’s healthcare infrastructure. Patients are referred to this institution from districts. You are supposed to get the best modern facilities here. How can a patient be referred from here? It means the government, the health minister, the health ministry, Swasthya Bhavan and the hospital administration are all admitting that a top healthcare institution lacks proper treatment facilities,” he said.
An intern who was in the emergency ward when the Chorbagan injured arrived alleged that facilities like eFAST (extended focused assessment with sonography in trauma) and medicine like tranexamic acid (used to prevent and treat excessive bleeding) were unavailable.
“Multiple essential medicines are not available in the ward. This also happened today while treating the Chorbagan victims. How are we supposed to work without these things?” he asked.
Another speaker said the state health minister was “aware” of the deficiencies. “We tried reaching out to the health minister multiple times. He has visited this place multiple times. He knows everything. Even basic supplies like clot vials (specialised blood collection tubes) and 5ml and 10ml syringes are unavailable.”
“The Abhaya movement began two years ago. Several loopholes in the healthcare system came to the fore during that campaign. Mass protests were organised. The regime change came with a lofty promise to improve the system. But nothing has happened even after the government changed. If anything, it has become worse,” he said.
An official of Medical College Kolkata countered the allegations. “The chief minister gave two options to the relatives of the patients — to shift them to a private facility or get treated here. The patients were not referred to Apollo. They were shifted,” he said.
The official denied that medicine unavailability was an ongoing problem. Stocks run out and are replenished in due course, he said.
“There are plans to set up a trauma care unit as well,” he added.