An “ashamed” chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday conceded that her new government was not prepared to face such a catastrophe like the AMRI Hospital fire in which the death toll is gradually heading towards 100. The total number of casualty rose to 92 on Sunday.
Speaking at a programme at the Technician Studio in Tollygunge, Ms Banerjee said: “We are ashamed. We are in a state of shock and endless void. Honestly speaking, we were not at all prepared to face such a crisis. It has come as a bolt from the blue.”
Mourning the tragedy in which hapless patients were choked to death, the chief minister added: “We do not know how long this state of shock will continue amongst us. There is little wish to work, but we need to move ahead.” On Monday evening, she will lead a candlelight vigil from Birla Planetarium to Gandhi Statue in Kolkata in memory of the victims.
Earlier in the day, another patient died rising the death toll in the tragedy to 92. A 45-year-old constable of the New Town police station Babulal Bhattacharya died at AMRI in Salt Lake. Officer-in-charge of the police station Nanda Dulal Ghosh said, “Being a cardiac patient, he died due to the impact of suffocation. The body underwent post-mortem.”
Bhattacharya, a resident of Sonarpur who was on leave for treatment, was admitted to the ICCU at AMRI in Dhakuria on November 5, Mr Ghosh added. Following the fire, the police constable was shifted to the Salt Lake unit of the hospital.
Meanwhile, there was some confusion over the number of deaths as another patient from the same hospital Neela Dasgupta, 85, the mother of Jaya Dasgupta, development and planning department secretary of the state government, died at the Belle Vue Clinic in south Kolkata.