Amid allegation of “medical negligence”, a blame game has begun following the tragic death of promising Bengal opening batsman Ankit Keshri who passed away this morning owing to an injury sustained during a cricket match a few days back.
Keshri sustained a head injury in an on-field collision while taking a catch in a Cricket Association of Bengal’s Senior one-day knock-out match on April 17 at JU second campus ground in Saltlake.Keshri, representing East Bengal in the match against Bhowanipore Club, was taken to the AMRI Hospital in the vicinity. Last night, Keshri was shifted to Nightingale Hospital on Shakespeare Sarani after East Bengal senior official Sadanand Mukherjee signed the risk bond at the AMRI Hospital and the former Bengal U-19 captain died early this morning because of cardiac arrest. A blame game then began as the super specialty hospital in Saltlake said they were not given a chance to treat further, while East Bengal’s Sadanand Mukherjee claimed otherwise.
AMRI CEO Rupak Barua said they were not given a chance to treat Keshri for which further investigations were required, even as Mukherjee claimed that they were given assurances by the hospital that Keshri was stable.
“We wanted to conduct more investigations on him like CT angio and other tests but we were not given a chance to treat him because the patient was taken after the club and family authorities signed the risk bond and after which we discharged him,” Baruah told PTI.
Baruah said the doctor attending on Keshri told the patient parties that he was aerodynamically stable but did not advice his discharge. “He was under treatment at the critical care unit... AMRI had conducted CT scan of the brain and 13 dopplers and wanted further investigation,” Baruah said.
Mukherjee, however, said: “We went by what doctors told us and for better treatment we took him to Nightingale. It was a decision taken in consultation with the family.” East Bengal coach Pranab Nandi claimed: “There was no indication from the hospital at all. They in fact told us that Keshri would be shifted to general bed and nothing revealed in the scan.”
Nightingale Hospital, it may be noted, has a tie-up with the Cricket Association of Bengal and the state body said they shifted the cricketer for better treatment. “It’s nothing to do with the tie-up and we shifted him purely because of better treatment,” CAB joint-secretary Subir Ganguly said.
The Nightingale Hospital in their medical bulletin said Keshri’s pulse rate was low and he had a brain swelling (edema) that caused the cardiac arrest. “CT scan revealed small hemorrhages. So we decided to put him under our neurosurgeon Buddhadev Saha. He was then put in ICU for constant monitoring. There’s a chance of secondary brain injury to deteriorate further. From 8.30 pm till 11, the patient was in uniformed state. Later on, he developed uneasiness and another CT scan revealed that the swelling inside the brain has begun to grow. We tried our best and was in constant touch with Dr Saha. But unfortunately the brain swelling (called Edema) began to grow despite all the medication and affected the heart beat. Early morning he suffered a cardiac arrest,” critical care expert Arpan Chowdhury said in the bulletin.
Teammate Shiv Sagar expresses shock
Former Bengal spinner Shiv Sagar Singh, who was one of the first persons to attend Ankit Keshri and tried resuscitation, was in deep shock on Monday after the young cricketer’s tragic death. The East Bengal spinner was in cover while 12th man Keshri was fielding at the sweeper cover region before the fatal collision with Sourav Mondal. “He fell awkwardly and blood was spurting out of his mouth, his neck badly twisted. For a moment, it occurred to me he would not survive. But he opened his eyes and we breathed a sigh (after giving CPR). I tried my best in whatever possible manner. It could have been my catch also. But having seen them running for the catch I held myself back. He was doing fine and was responding, little did we imagine he would leave us in such way,” Singh said.
Gloom descends on Maidan
A pall of gloom descended on the Kolkata Maidan after the tragic death of talented Bengal batsman Ankit Keshri who passed away this morning owing to a cardiac arrest after a head injury sustained during a Cricket Association of Bengal’s Senior one-day knock-out match on April 17. From West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee to cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar (in twitter) to Sourav Ganguly and Jagmohan Dalmiya, everyone was in shock at the tragic death that brought back the memory of Australian cricketer Phil Hughes who died after being hit by a bouncer on his neck in November last year.
In a deep shock, Mamata stayed out of the body kept for last homage at the East Bengal tent and chose to observe about 10 minutes silence before offering her condolences to the bereaved family. Keshri’s body was first taken to Eden Gardens. IPL Governing Council member and CAB secretary Subir Ganguly, on his way to New Delhi for a GC meeting, came to know of the shocking news at the airport and he immediately cancelled his ticket and headed for the Nightingale Hospital at Shakespeare Sarani. “Sourav (Ganguly) had left early but I was to go at 10am but after I came to know about this I immediately cancelled ticket and returned,” Subir said.