AMRI Hospital Fire: Acharya accuses Mamata Govt. of working irresponsibly

Kolkata, Dec 9 (ANI): With over 70 people dying in a massive fire that broke out in the centrally air-conditioned private hospital at Dhakuria in the southern fringes of Kolkata this morning, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) lawmaker Basudev Acharya termed it a shameless incident and accused the West Bengal Government of working irresponsibly.

"The chief minister herself handles many departments, and the most important of which, is the health department. Because of this fire, more than 50 people have died. This is a shameless incident; the way fire broke out and that too in a hospital. We will raise this issue in the Parliament and the state government is working irresponsibly," said Acharya.

West Bengal Health Minister Sudip Bandyopadhyay responded by saying that the Left party was trying to politicise every issue in the state.

"The CPM leaders want to deal every issue politically, that is the reason why the people of West Bengal voted them out of the power. It is a super specialty hospital, a private hospital, which has all the connections with CPM, I would not like to take the name of people and I am not willing to know when this hospital was formed," said Bandyopadhyay.

"The chief minister herself has visited the accident site. We are making efforts to control the situation; other wise CPM leaders want to worsen the situation," he added.

Bandyopadhyay further said the state government is taking all possible steps to ensure that the situation is brought under control.

"We are sad about the incident and we know that health is a state subject; the Central Government has not much to do with it. But we are hopeful that the incident that has happened will be brought under control," said Bandyopadhyay.

"And Mamata Banerjee, who herself looks after the department, will surely look into the matter and will try and make efforts to handle the situation," he added.

Banerjee, who assessed the situation at the AMRI Hospital earlier in the day, described the tragedy as a case of negligence and as 'an unforgivable crime'. She vowed to give 'the harshest punishment possible' for the guilty.

Banerjee also ordered the cancellation of the hospital's licence and urged angry relatives of the victims to go to the state-run SSKM Hospital to identify the bodies.

The devastating fire broke out in the basement of the AMRI hospital in Kolkata's Dhakuria area at 3: 30 a.m., where the hospitals chemicals and medical waste are stocked.

A National Disaster Management team is at the site trying to save the lives of patients, doctors and nurses.

The firemen were also trying to locate the oxygen cylinders stocked on the floors, as the fire could make them explode. Senior city police and civil officials are also at the spot to assess the latest developments.

Helpline numbers that have reportedly been issued for the concerned families of the victims are: 09932215296 and 09831225067. (ANI)