Kolkata has never seen such a scene!
A patient was hanging on the cornice of the eighth floor of a hospital. It was just a matter of 2 minutes. Then his hand slipped. He stumbled at least twice and fell down. The family of the patient standing below, the fire brigade and the police saw that scene as practically helpless. Venue: Institute of Neuroscience, Mallick Bazar, Kolkata.
According to the police, the patient named Sujit Adhikari (38) was rescued and taken to the hospital after he fell down around 1pm on Saturday. Sujit, a resident of Laketown Dakshindari, died at around 6 pm. This raises the question; how did a patient get from the hospital room to the cornice? Why was there no window grill in the hospital? Why couldn’t he be rescued unharmed after trying for almost two hours? Why couldn’t he be saved even with hydraulic ladder, mats, nets? Although many eyewitnesses said the Disaster Management Group (DMG) and firefighters were trying to rescue. But when they got close, Sujit was threatening to jump.
Accusations against the hospital
Sujit’s family has lodged a complaint of negligence against the hospital at Beniapukur police station in the evening. On the basis of this, the police have filed a case under the section of death due to negligence. According to health department sources, a report has been sought from the hospital in this regard. The forensic team went to the hospital at night. Sujit’s body has been sent to NRS for autopsy.
Initially it was known that Sujit had an iron cutting business. Sujit’s wife Riya died of kidney disease three weeks ago. There are two children of them. Sujit was admitted to the hospital last Thursday. This was his day of discharge. Sujit’s bed was by the window. The hospital claimed that Sujit broke the screw on the window sill with the handle of the bed and got up and climbed on the cornice. Sujit tried to bite her when a nurse tried to catch her.
According to local sources, Sujit was suddenly seen on the cornice of the hospital in Mallick Bazar around 11 am on Saturday. He was wearing hospital clothes and channel in one hand. Seeing that, the fire brigade got the news and the police also arrived. The hospital staff also tried to explain to Sujit through the window. But Sujit was adamant.
Gradually the crowd in front of the hospital began to grow. People started begging Sujit to come down. But Sujit was not listening to them. Instead, he was sitting on the cornice with his legs dangling and his hands moving. Sometimes he was standing with his arms outstretched. That day the fire brigade brought a hydraulic ladder. Sujit’s aunt Basanti Adhikari also came to the hospital. The fire brigade tried to push his aunt closer to Sujit. But seeing that, Sujit threatened to jump.
The aunt was removed. Standing in the hospital premises, Basanti cried and clasped her hands and said to Sujit, “Dear, don’t do that. Go inside.” Sujit did not listen to that either. Basanti was taken inside.