Annapurna Nursing Home row: Cops conduct raid, documents seized

Kolkata: A joint force of the city and district police carried out an overnight raid at Annapurna Nursing Home in Burdwan on Saturday and seized various important documents, which have brought to light some major loopholes.

The private nursing home's owner and manager were arrested by police on Sunday morning, after some discrepancies were found on the part of the nursing home. This happened two days after the nursing home allegedly engaged an AC machine operator as a doctor to look after a Madhyamik examinee, while being transported to a city hospital in an ambulance.

The owner has been identified as Animesh Mullick, while the manager is Seikh Najrul. Police are interrogating the accused. The incident has created a flutter across the state, with the state Health department ordering a probe in this regard. A committee had been formed to investigate the role of the private nursing home.

The patient was, however, declared brought dead after being taken to a private hospital. The doctors said that the oxygen mask was not properly placed on the patient and this might have caused his death.

This had aroused the suspicion of the doctors and the accused was later handed over to the city police. After staring an investigation, police suspect that there might have been a nexus between a section of the nursing home officials and the local ambulance operators.

One ambulance operator, identified as Vickey, has been absconding since the incident took place. His role is also under scanner. Police are also going through the CCTV footages of the nursing home.

According to the investigation, police suspect that this practice of engaging a non-qualified man as a doctor in an ambulance had been going on for some time. In most of the cases, those who accompany the patients in an ambulance are not doctors. Police are also investigating the role of the ambulance operators in the district.

The victim, Arijit Das (14), was a Madhyamik candidate this year. A resident of Birbhum, Das was taken to Annapurna Nursing Home in Burdwan on Thursday. His condition deteriorated, as a result of which the family members had decided to shift the patient to a city hospital.