Mamata promises all help to family of deceased minor

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has assured all possible assistance to the family members of the two-and-a-half-year-old girl who died of alleged medical negligence at AMRI Hospital in Mukundapur.

The victim's parents on Thursday met the Chief Minister at her residence urging her to take action in this regard. After hearing out their grievances for more than an hour, Banerjee instructed the Health Secretary to take up the issue with the West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC).

The Chief Minister also instructed the state secretary of the Indian Medical Association Dr Santanu Sen to accompany the family members of the victim to WBCERC to register a complaint.

Banerjee reportedly told the parents that appropriate action would be taken against those found guilty.

The victim, Oyetri Dey, a resident of Kamalgazi, was taken to the OPD of AMRI Hospital on Sunday as she was suffering from viral fever. The girl died in the hospital on Wednesday morning. Her parents allege that she became a victim of glaring medical negligence. They lodged a complaint with the West Bengal Medical Council urging to take action against the doctor who was responsible for the incident.

The baby's mother Shampa Dey alleged that the patient was not given oxygen when she was in dire need of it. She also alleged that a doctor who attended her daughter said oxygen saturation machine of the hospital was not working. She claimed that her baby would have survived had she been put under oxygen support on time.

The mother alleged that her daughter was administered wrong injections, which led to the deterioration of her condition. The unit head of the hospital allegedly misbehaved with them when they went to speak to her. The accused also threatened the family members: "Do not behave like a hoodlum inside the hospital, there is no hoodlum as great as me." This immediately sparked tension in the hospital with the family members of the deceased staging demonstration inside the hospital premises. The hospital authorities had, however, sent the controversial unit head on a leave following the incident.

Jayanta Dey, the baby's father, later lodged a complaint with Purva Jadavpur police station following which the probe has begun. Police may summon the unit head who made the controversial statement and interrogate her in this connection.

After meeting the Chief Minister, Jayanta Dey said: "Chief Minister already knew about the incident. She gave us a patient hearing for nearly one-and-a-half-hours. She assured us that strict action will be taken against the guilty."

Police have sent several medical records to a state-run hospital to determine if the patient had any heart-related ailments as AMRI authorities claim that she died due to heart problems and there was no negligence on the part of the hospital.