Latest news with #NRSMCH
The Hindu
20-05-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
After NMC's show-cause notice, Bengal govt. passes ‘urgent order' to medical college
The West Bengal government issued an 'urgent order' on Monday mandating faculty members and senior residents of State-run Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital (NRSMCH) in Kolkata to mark their attendance twice a day (on arrival and departure) on the AEBAS FACE-based Aadhaar authentication application on their phone. Besides, they were also instructed to apply for leave 'via proper channel' on the online system. This comes weeks after the National Medical Commission (NMC) issued show-cause notice flagging eight 'deficiencies' at the NRSMCH. In the show-cause notice, the commission cited that 18 out of 20 departments have insufficient data in their Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS). It also highlighted other issues such as insufficient cadaver data, discrepancies during examinations, and unfilled vacancies of senior residents in several departments. The commission also mentioned 'a monetary penalty not exceeding ₹1 crore per violation or for any act of omission by the medical institution.' Other stringent action too will be stipulated, it stressed. 'Technical glitches' In response to the notice, principal of NRSMCH, Dr. Indira Dey, issued clarifications in a letter to the Director of the Undergraduate Medical Education Board of the NMC. She cited 'technical glitches'for insufficient attendance data. 'It is to be noted that they gave manual attendance on registers regularly. We are trying to improve the same,' Dr Dey wrote in her letter on May 10. The notice also cited that there was insufficient data on cadavers, bed occupancy, cytopathology, and operation theatres. For many of these allegations, the hospital authorities cited technical issues. The NMC also cited video evidence from August 1, 2024, and alleged that a certain examination hall 'looked too crowded and students were talking to each other while writing exam.' Furthermore, it underlined that according to data, bed occupancy at NRSMCH is only 73%. While the principal countered the allegation by claiming that bed occupancy in the hospital was over 80% in all months except June 2024, she also blamed the cease-work protests by junior doctors from August 2024 for a dip in the admission of patients. The resident doctors and medical students of NRSMCH were part of the protests that erupted in the State after the rape and murder of a female doctor on duty in August 2024. While the protests were largely motivated by the people's demand for justice for the victim, the medical fraternity, particularly the junior doctors, also demanded specific improvements in the public health infrastructure of West Bengal. In a related development, the NMC in a notification on May 19 said legal action is being taken against Sanjiban Hospital and Medical College in Howrah, which has allegedly been running a medical course without the commission's authorisation.
The Hindu
30-04-2025
- The Hindu
Kolkata fire survivors recollect ‘terrifying' incident
A 10-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy from Tamil Nadu, who were visiting West Bengal with their family, were among the casualties of a fire in a hotel in central Kolkata's Burrabazar, which took at least 14 lives on Tuesday night. On Wednesday (April 30, 2025), after identity verification, the post-mortem of the two children was completed at Kolkata's Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital (NRSMCH). A sombre atmosphere prevailed outside the hospital morgue, where the bodies of five victims had been sent for post-mortem. The two children were identified as P. Rathin and P. Diya by the police. The family hails from the southern State's Karur district, and was on a tour of West Bengal for the past few days. The bereaved mother, who waited at the hospital morgue for hours on Wednesday afternoon, left in the evening, sobbing profusely as the bodies of her children were taken out in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation's (KMC) hearse vans. Weeping, she said her son would go everywhere with his father. 'Yesterday, they did not come with us when we stepped out. My son wanted to watch TV. Why did I leave them behind? Why did we not take them along?' she said, overtaken by grief. 'My children were with me for only a few years. How can I go on without them now? My husband and I were raising them with so much labour and love. He would pick them up; they would kiss us on our cheeks,' she said, speaking in both Tamil and English. Three acquaintances, possibly Kolkata locals, accompanied her. The grief-stricken mother was surrounded by police personnel and KMC officials, stationed through the day at the NRSMCH. A high-ranking KMC official told The Hindu that arrangements had been made to preserve the bodies of the deceased in the mortuary till the bereaved families could arrange to take them home. Preliminary reports have suggested 'those who died were victims of suffocation/jumping etc.', West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee posted on social media. Terror-stricken After the fire broke out at about 8.15 p.m. on Tuesday night, several of the hotel's guests as well as staff were seen jumping from the higher floors to escape. Many were rescued by Fire Services personnel. Survivors said the staircase of the hotel had filled with dense and toxic smoke, as did the corridors, rendering them inaccessible. Neha and Akash Agarwal from Odisha said they had broken the windows of their room to stand on the flat protruding area outside in order to escape. 'Our nephew called us and said a fire had broken out, and that we should leave immediately. We thought of taking the stairs, but when we opened the door to our room, we saw the place was filled with smoke. I shut the door and broke the glass window so that we could breathe. I asked my wife and nephew to wait on the platform on the outer wall of the building,' Mr. Agarwal told local media persons. His wife said they were in Kolkata on a holiday and could not have imagined experiencing such a 'terrifying' incident. 'The fire alarms and firefighting equipment in the hotel were all defunct. The hotel staff did not help either. The only help we got while escaping was from the police and the Fire Services personnel,' the couple said.
