| SANJAY MANDAL 09.11.2011 | |
Mamata Banerjee can do little about the price of a barrel of oil, but Bangur Institute of Neurosciences (BIN) might have been better off with a little more attention than a solitary surprise visit and a suspension. On May 26, a week after becoming chief minister, Mamata had stopped at the south Calcutta health care facility for a sudden inspection, only to storm out after rebuking institute director Shyamapada Ghorai for complaining about the television cameras that were following her. Neurosurgeon Ghorai paid the price for “misconduct and insubordination” with a suspension letter signed, sealed and delivered the same night, leaving Bangur Institute of Neurosciences without a full-time director until last Friday. “I submitted my reply to the showcause notice on August 1 but there has been no communication from the health department since,” Ghorai told Metro on Tuesday, four days after Asit Senapati was appointed his full-time replacement. On a day Mamata and Co. hogged the national limelight with their petrol price protest,Metro revisited the Bangur institute to find the facility in as pathetic a condition as it was in when the chief minister had come calling on May 26. Scan on MRI The long queue for an MRI scan at the Bangur Institute of Neurosciences just got longer. Five months have passed since Mamata asked health department officials to ensure that patients weren’t kept waiting for an MRI up to four months, but the backlog continues to grow. Four-year Mita Dolui from Amta, in Howrah, was brought to the institute on Tuesday for an emergency MRI scan, only to be told that it couldn’t be done. “Patient requires general anaesthesia facility, which is not available,” an official wrote on her prescription. Mita has been diagnosed with an infection in her brain that has affected her eyesight. “My daughter is unable to see and the doctors say she needs an MRI before further treatment. Where do I take her now? I don’t have the money to go to a private unit,” rued her father Bablu, who runs a bicycle repair shop. A senior doctor at the institute confirmed the lack of MRI-compatible anaesthesia equipment. Nilip Koley, a 58-year-old Hooghly farmer who suffered a stroke two days back, was asked to come for his MRI on March 26 next year. Nitai Chandra Ghosh, a 60-year-old with a spinal cord problem, was given a March 27 slot. As of now, the only source of relief is a new MRI machine installed at SSKM Hospital. Doctors said patients referred by the Bangur institute would be able to undergo an MRI there. “We hope to start a trial run by the end of this month,” said Pradip Mitra, the director of the Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research. Mitra had held additional charge of the Bangur institute for five months since Ghorai’s suspension. Cat and mouse The only inmates of the Bangur institute without a reason to complain are the cats, rats and cockroaches. A steady supply of leftovers left to rot in the wards and corridors means the unwanted guests enjoy hearty meals every day. “The group D staff ask for money whenever we request them to take away the leftovers,” said a relative of a patient, declining to be identified. The day Mamata had visited the hospital, Metro found garbage littering the wards and cats roaming about freely. Trolley trauma Trolleys to ferry critically ill patients from one section to the other are as difficult to find at the Bangur institute as beds. Immobile patients and those with neurological disorders suffer the most because of the shortage of this basic piece of equipment. Sukumar Ganguly, 42, a farmer from Arambagh in Hooghly, lay on a stretcher under a tree from 10am till 3pm on Tuesday. He was waiting to be examined at the outpatient department and his family couldn’t find a trolley to carry him there. “Luckily for us, this stretcher was vacant,” said his brother Sanjib. Bet on a bed Deepak Giri, a 48-year-old driver from Sarsuna in Behala, is suffering from a spinal cord disorder and can’t walk without support. Tuesday was the second successive day he was brought to the Bangur institute for admission, but the hospital couldn’t provide him a bed. “He has been referred to SSKM, but there is no vacant bed there either. When we requested the doctors to administer a painkiller, they told us it can’t be done at the OPD,” his wife Purnima alleged. Hospital officials said they had no choice but to turn away patients with only 137 beds being available. | |
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