The catastrophe at AMRI Hospital on Friday once again exposed the skeleton infrastructure of the state government in tackling any emergency when the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was pressed in by the Centre to
check if there was any radiation leakage following the blaze. An apprehension of radiation leakage from a radiation plant at the hospital’s basement for brachitherapy treatment created panic.
The fire brigade personnel were exhausted after a prolong rescue operation amidst suffocation while state forensic science laboratory’s experts were in a fix if any leakage had occurred.
The condition of the state disaster management officials were same due to lack of training in detecting any radiation contamination.
A troop of around 70 NDRF personnel headed by two deputy commandants — B.S. Dhar and Mukesh Kumar Verma — from its camp at Madhyamgram in North 24 Parganas, then arrived the hospital at around 2 pm. Experts from the emergency response centre of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) were with them.
Mr Verma said, “We came here after receiving an alert from the Centre.”
Secretary of the disaster management department Indevar Pandey issued us a requisition. I even consulted the situation with the scientists of the Bhaba Atomic Research Centre.”
He explained “Two teams specialised in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) detection went to the basement with breathing apparatus and high tech sensors to chech any possible leak. Our operation ended at around 5 pm after no contamination was detected. The source of radiation has been unaffected.”