Even as blood-stained floors, shattered window panes, some anxious relatives and a smell of death bore a grim reminder to perhaps one of the worst hospital tragedies, people rushed to AMRI Hospital's Dhakuria unit seeking immediate discharge of their loved ones.
The irony is that Mr R.S. Agarwal, a director of the hospital, in a recent interview to Business Line had said he was looking at expanding the company's healthcare business. “For me at this age, the expansion in healthcare is more for moral satisfaction rather than a number game,” he had said on November 30.
Days later, he is under arrest for one of India's worst hospital disasters.
AMRI, which was once considered to be a premiere private-care unit of the city, is now a ghost town.
Of the 412 patients who were admitted across the three buildings of the super-speciality clinic, only 21 have opted to stay back following the mishap.
“There are 21 people who are still undergoing treatment at the main building of the hospital. Others have either been transferred to other AMRI units or sought discharge certificates,” Mr Suman Ghosh, medical superintendent of the Dhakuria unit, said.
If death had left its impregnable marks on the patients and their relatives, the West Bengal Government's closure orders left patients confused.
Some were wondering if the hospital was still operational or not and what would happen to them.
“I don't know what to do now. My wife had two chemotherapy sessions scheduled on December 9 and 10.
Money had been deposited in advance. What will happen to us now? Hospital authorities say they do not know,” Mr Subhas Das, a resident of Jalpaiguri district, said.
Hospital authorities claimed that the closure notice was for the annexe building at 15, Panchanantala that caught fire and not for the main building.
“It is difficult for us to convince people at this stage,” a doctor of the hospital said on conditions of anonymity.
Just outside the hospital, Ms Chandana De sat in despair. She had an appointment with an AMRI doctor. “The doctor is not available either on the phone or at the hospital,” she said.