Vicious Mob Attack Nurses at Kolkata Hospital Following Patient’s Death | Kolkata News – Times of India

They vandalized hospital property and injured three nurses. Police arrested nine people. The hospital staff demanded better security measures.

KOLKATA: At least three nurses at Vidyasagar State General Hospital in Behala were injured—one of them needed hospitalisation—after 100-odd family members and neighbours of a 32-year-old patient, who died following double heart attack, went on the rampage late on Friday, alleging negligence and demanding an “explanation” for the death.
The mob, which had demanded an explanation for the death, reportedly smashed chairs and tables, ransacked rooms, shattered glass panes of doors and flung medicines and injections from shelves. A large police team from the division and Lalbazar, led by a joint commissioner, took almost an hour to rein in the mob though the violence left everyone at the hospital anxious and scared.
Nurses and doctors questioned the administration’s promise of security for healthcare workers after the RG Kar crime and pointed out that despite the official claim of 90% progress in ensuring safety at hospitals, no security personnel could be found during the violence. “Such acts of brutality create a fearful atmosphere in a hospital… we urge you to take immediate and stringent action to stop such acts of vandalism and violence. We also request the prompt arrest and exemplary punishment of the perpetrators involved to ensure justice and restore confidence among healthcare providers,” Sajal Biswas, general secretary of Service Doctors’ Forum, wrote to the director of health services.
Cops from the Parnasree police station have so far arrested nine people and questioned 13.
According to an additional CP, trouble at Vidyasagar hospital started around 11 pm after a man, Seikh Mehmood Alam (32), died there. Alam, a resident of Baidyapara in Barisha, was admitted to the Behala hospital with chest pain around 8.30 pm after he fell ill while returning from Digha and suffering a heart attack. According to a hospital official, several tests were carried out and a blood test revealed heart problems.
He was administered CPR immediately but suffered another attack around 8.40 pm and died a little before 9 pm, the official said, though his family alleged Alam died during an ECG.
Police said as Alam’s death news spread, his relatives and neighbours started gathering, gradually adding up to almost 100 of them in over an hour. The hospital authorities reportedly informed the family about the entire situation and offered to conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death, but the family declined and asked for his death certificate promptly.
Accordingly, the certificate was handed over to the family by 10.30 pm and Alam’s body was released and placed in an ambulance, said a hospital official. “At this point the patient’s relatives accused the hospital of negligence and demanded all medical documents. The officials said govt hospitals could not hand over such documents without a court order,” said a police officer.
An argument followed and snowballed into the violence with the people gathered there ransacking rooms and vandalising furniture. A nurse, who was standing nearby, was allegedly assaulted and she had to lock herself inside a restroom to save herself, said police.
Witnesses later recounted that the security guards at the hospital were far outnumbered by the attackers. It was only after police arrived that Alam’s family drove away with his body in the ambulance, said a hospital official. The hospital nurses even alleged that they reported the incident to the police outpost as well as police station, but no action was taken.
While Bhaswati Mukherjee of Nurses Unity questioned how long would such attacks on duty continue, Bibha Maity, assistant secretary of Nurses Unity, told TOI, “We are in touch with the three nurses who were assaulted, one of them is undergoing treatment at that hospital.” She added that the patient was brought in a very critical stage and passed away despite healthcare staff trying their best. “A police complaint has been lodged against the attackers and those who assaulted the nurses,” she said.
(Inputs by Sarthak Ganguly)