CM's intervention ensures bed at SSKM

Kolkata: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee's initiative resulted in the admission of a critically injured patient at SSKM hospital on Wednesday morning after the patient party had to allegedly run from

pillar to post being refused admission at four government hospitals in the city. In all the cases, the hospitals cited

unavailability of beds for the patient's admission who had come all the way from North Bengal.

The family members of the patient ultimately rushed to Banerjee's residence at Kalighat and sought her intervention. "The message was communicated to the Chief Minister by his security officers and we were told to take the patient to SSKM and there will be no difficulty in admission. We wasted no time and when we reached the hospital, this time, he was immediately admitted," a family member of the patient said.

Sahabul Alam of Dhupguri in Jalpaiguri sustained severe injuries after a tree accidentally fell upon him. The lower portion of his body became paralysed due to the impact of the fall. He was first taken to the Birpara sub-divisional hospital which referred Sahabul to North Bengal Medical College Hospital.

However, the patient was refused admission on the ground of his "critical nature" and was advised to be taken to super specialty SSKM hospital in Kolkata. The patient was rushed to SSKM in an ambulance that reached there at around 7 pm on Tuesday evening. However, he was refused admission at SSKM on the grounds of non-availability of bed.

The patient was then taken to NRS Medical College Hospital in Sealdah where they had to face the same

consequence due to non-availability of bed. Similar fate awaited them at National Medical College Hospital in College Street and Sambhunath Pandit Hospital in Bhowanipore.

"We had to face a lot of difficulty due to heavy rain that was lashing the city during that time. Ultimately we again came to SSKM hospital and were advised to wait till morning and wait for the outdoor. Sahabul had to wait in the ambulance writhing in pain for more than two hours. Then one of the persons who has also come to the hospital with one of his family members advised us to seek the intervention of Chief Minister whose residence is not too far away from there," a family member of the patient said.

"When we reached the CM's residence with a glimmer of hope, considering her humanitarian nature, she did not disappoint us," added the family member.

"We immediately got a bed at the hospital and the police escorted us to the hospital," another relative of the patient said.