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Regular-article-logo Sunday, 05 May 2024

RG Kar dump angers Atin Ghosh

The hospital has been told to clear the garbage by Thursday so that no water remained accumulated in the discarded materials

Our Special Correspondent Calcutta Published 31.07.19, 09:07 PM
Wooden furniture, pipes, rods and other building materials dumped inside RG Kar hospital

Wooden furniture, pipes, rods and other building materials dumped inside RG Kar hospital Telegraph picture

Deputy mayor Atin Ghosh on Wednesday told the authorities of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital that “it is a matter of shame” that the hospital premises were full of mosquito breeding spots.

Ghosh was inspecting the north Calcutta hospital when he saw wooden furniture, plastic pipes, iron rods, plastic sheets and building materials lying strewn behind the cardiology department, at the rear of the BC Roy nursing hostel, behind the morgue and a building under construction on the campus.

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“Discarded materials were strewn all over the medical college and hospital. It’s a matter of shame. There are so many doctors and nurses here,” Ghosh said after his visit. “We have been asking the authorities to clear these materials since April. After four months nothing has been removed. The borough executive health officer should have slapped a case against the college. ”

The hospital has been told to clear the garbage by Thursday so that no water remained accumulated in the discarded materials. The administration of the hospital — which attracts thousands of patients every day — have also been asked to cover the dumped material to prevent further accumulation of water.

“We have asked the administration of the RG Kar medical college and hospital to cover the discarded materials within a day to prevent water from accumulating. I will revisit to see if this cover is in place,” Ghosh told Metro.

“The borough executive health officer has been asked to show cause why they shouldn’t be suspended,” he said.

With intermittent rain hitting Calcutta and its suburbs and reports of patients turning up at CMC clinics with fever, civic officials have been trying to spread awareness against water accumulation in open spaces to prevent growth of mosquitoes causing dengue.

Even chief minister Mamata Banerjee had spoken about spreading dengue awareness at an administrative meeting in Madhyamgram on July 26.

Ghosh, who is also in charge of the CMC’s health and vector control department, decided to turn up at the medical college in north Calcutta for an assessment of the dengue-preparedness on the part of the hospital authorities.

The 45-minute-long tour of the hospital campus left him furious after he spotted mosquito breeding spots.

Sources said under Section 496 of the CMC Act, 1980, the corporation was empowered to take legal action against government officers for negligence.

In 2001, the CMC had slapped a similar case against the PWD for failing to take steps to prevent water accumulating in open spaces inside Raj Bhavan.

“In the case of RG Kar medical college, health officials from the CMC could have slapped a case under Section 496A of the CMC Act, 1980, after removing the materials and then asking the hospital authorities to foot the bill,” an official said.

Officials of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital said they did inform the PWD about removing building materials that had been accumulating at the site where two buildings were coming up.

“A four-storeyed guest house is being built on the campus. Besides a storehouse is also coming up. We have informed the executive engineer of the PWD but that hasn’t helped,” said a senior official of the hospital.

“Several furniture are being repaired. The workers often leave behind the material around the building site. We have asked them repeatedly to clear the space. But they haven’t.”

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