NGO arranges financial aid for kidney patients

KOLKATA: The first step was to give them a new lease of life by replacing their dysfunctional kidneys. Though Pintu Mondal and Sushanta Mondal’s lives were saved, but however, this was less than half the battle. The real one starts now as and it would be an especially tough one because the two recipients, who got the of kidneys from a deceased donor, are extremely poor and cannot afford the treatment. But lest this pioneering experiment in organ transplantation comes to naught, doctors and social workers have come forward with funds to support the lifelong treatment of the two patients.

Pintu, 19, is the son of a farm labourer while Sushanta, 38, works in a furniture shop. They hail from the South and North 24-Parganas respectively and had been suffering from renal failure for a long time. Doctors at the SSKM Hospital had recommended kidney transplantation and asked them to look for live donors. But Though Pintu’s father and Biswanath’s wife were prepared to donate their kidneys to save the lives of the patients, the families could not afford the cost of the operation and post-operative treatment. They could only scrounge around and organize for funds for an occasional dialysis, which too was gradually becoming redundant because both the kidneys of the patients were giving up.

Seeing no option at hand the patients were sent by SSKM to Ganadarpan for financial assistance. This is when a miraculous coincidence happened. A patient was declared brain dead at the Belle Vue Nursing Home and his relatives were ready convinced by the attending doctor, Saurabh Kole, to donate the kidneys to two ailing patients. SSKM Hospital was contacted and within minutes the transplant operation on the two patients was organized, under the leadership of nephrologist Rajendra Pandey. “It was a perfect operation and we were able to not only transplant the kidneys successfully, we have closely observed the patients for nearly a fortnight now and are convinced that there will be no rejection. However, after crossing the first hurdle, we are now at a stage where we will have to ensure lifelong treatment that will make certain their survival,” Pandey said.

Ganadarpan, the NGO that has been sensitizing the society about the need for body and organ donation, and has been closely working with SSKM for these two patients, have pledged to fund the expensive treatment that is expected to cross Rs 2.5 lakh annually for the two patients. Funds have already been collected and are being released in phases to SSKM. Ganadarpan spokesperson, Brojo Roy said that

Leading doctors like pathologist Subir Dutta and medicine expert Ashoke Chowdhury have already sent in funds that can cover the expenses for the two patients for the next two years, said Brojo Roy, spokesperson of Gandarpan. “This apart, we have received a substantial amount from an NRI social worker Ranjit Dutta. Dutta, who lives in the US, had lost his wife in a road accident. He had, thereafter, donated her kidneys and liver and these had been successfully transplanted. He donates worldwide for the cause,” added Roy.

“I am running around to raise fund for my husband’s post operative treatment, asking for help from relatives who are equally poor. I am too poor to organize sufficient fund,”said wife Mondol’s wife Sulekha.

Pintu’s father has already sold the only piece of land the family owned in Champahati and spent the amount on the boy’s dialysis. The promise for help from the donors is a huge relief for the family.

Cadaver organ transplantation had been tried in 2010 for the first time in this state but that was unsuccessful. Enthused by this first successful transplantation, both doctors at SSKM and Ganadarpan said that they will now be on the look out for patients who have been declared brain dead in the 11 odd hospitals of the state where such transplantation is allowed. The state vide an act had allowed organ transplantation from the deceased after they are declared brain dead, way back in 1995. After a long gap, in 2007, the state health department allowed SSKM and 10 other private hospitals to carry this out and it even mentions the names of 20 doctors who are authorised to transplant organs from bodies of the deceased.

The City Diary

Burglars arrested
Six men were arrested on Friday for two robberies at Mathpara in Khardah last Sunday. Four of the arrested were picked up from near Sodepur and the rest from Barrackpore. A gold chain, six silver utensils and Rs 12,500, a part of the Rs 80,000 booty the gang had taken from the homes of two traders, were recovered. A 9mm pistol and some ammunition were also found on them.

AMRI bail
The bail petition of Satyabrata Upadhyay, senior vice-president (projects) and head of the safety committee of AMRI Hospitals, Dhakuria, could not be heard on Friday at a district and sessions court in Alipore as defence counsel Milan Mukherjee was out of station. Judge Anindya Bhattacharjee has fixed March 16 as the next date of hearing .

Civic budget
Mayor Sovan Chatterjee will place the Trinamul Congress-run civic board’s third budget on Saturday. The focus, civic officials said, will be on the beautification of the city.

Accident
A school bus ran over a pedestrian on AJC Bose Road around 1.30pm on Friday. The injured, Sahabuddin, 50, was taken to SSKM Hospital in an unconscious state.

Boy given mother’s shot – Nurse showcaused for mix-up in anti-rabies injection

A mute child was administered an anti-rabies injection meant for his mother for a cat bite at Pasteur Institute, Tangra, on Tuesday.

The careless nurse, Rina Singha Ray, has been showcaused by the health department. “I have sought her (the nurse’s) reply by tomorrow, after which further action will be taken,” said Biswa Ranjan Satpathi, the state’s director of health services.

The incident comes just three days after chief minister Mamata Banerjee asked all nurses to exercise caution. “Be extremely careful while administering injections,” Mamata, who is also the health minister, had said at Swastha Bhavan.

Instances of negligence are common in government hospitals. On November 2 last year, a woman was allegedly cleaned with acid instead of an antiseptic solution soon after delivering a stillborn at Lalbag hospital in Murshidabad. A nurse at SSKM Hospital had allegedly administered an injection meant for an accident victim to a patient in the next bed in July 2008. The victim died the next morning.

Experts, however, allayed fears of any side effects in Tuesday’s case. “It’s a safe drug and there is no side effect. Even medical personnel working in anti-rabies departments are given the vaccine as a precaution,” Satpathi said.

Critical care expert Subrata Maitra seconded him. “The anti-rabies vaccine doesn’t have any side effects except, in very rare cases, an allergy.”

But health department officials admitted such careless acts could prove deadly. “Had it been a high dose of antibiotic, the boy could have suffered severe reactions. The nurse should have waited for the child’s mother to arrive,” said a health official.

Renu Debi Sahu, 30, a resident of Kamardanga in Tangra, went to the state-run hospital after she suffered bruises inflicted by a cat. “When I told a didi (nurse) about my injury, she asked me to get a ticket from the outpatient department,” Renu said.

She left her six-year-old son Dibakar, who had accompanied her to the hospital, seated at the nursing station. She returned to find Dibakar crying.

When Renu asked her son what was wrong, the boy pointed at his right arm. “I asked the nurse what had happened and she told me the vaccine had already been administered,” Renu said.

The scared mother reported the matter to the hospital authorities and lodged a complaint with the Entally police.

Chhetri gets interim bail

AMRI Hospitals managing director Mani Chhetri, 91, has been granted interim bail but Pronab Dasgupta, the other doctor-member of the board behind bars, will remain in police custody till February 6.

The judicial custody of directors S.K. Todi and D.N. Agarwal, lodged in Alipore Central jail, has been extended till February 16.

Three other directors — Manish Goenka, Prashant Goenka and Ravi Todi — moved the high court for bail on Wednesday. Two others, R.S. Goenka and R.S. Agarwal, had done so earlier.

The Alipore chief judicial magistrate, C.H. Karim, allowed bail till February 16 to Chhetri because of his health. The doctor has been in the intensive coronary care unit of SSKM Hospital since his arrest on January 27.

The bail has been granted against a surety of Rs 20,000 and with the condition that Chhetri could not leave Calcutta and would have to hand over his passport to the investigating officer.

Chhetri’s lawyer Samaraditya Pal said the 91-year-old doctor had been suffering from serious illnesses, which had been mentioned in the report submitted by SSKM Hospital. “In the past seven days, Chhetri had suffered internal haemorrhage, causing blood-clots in his hands. It may turn out to be fatal if the haemorrhage attacks his brain.”

Pal said the prosecution had wrongly claimed that Chhetri did not bother to visit the hospital the day the fire broke out. “He rushed to the spot around 5am, as soon as he came to know of the incident. He spoke to fire brigade officers and the director of medical education and told them to take all kinds of measures to save patients’ lives.”

Pal claimed that Chhetri was not managing director of the hospital when the fire broke out. “He had resigned in March 2011.” AMRI sources, however, later told Metro that he was at the helm when the fire broke out.

Opposing the bail plea, public prosecutor Shaktinath Bhattacharya submitted that the police were concerned about Chhetri’s health. “He was promptly admitted to the SSKM ICCU after he complained of chest pain. Let him be there under the observation of doctors. If his health improves within seven days, the stipulated duration of police custody, the police will interrogate him with the permission of doctors. He may be taken to some places from where crucial documents could be recovered.”

Bhattacharya also referred to Chhetri’s petition which stated that he looked after healthcare at AMRI Dhakuria. “The safety of the patients falls under the hospital’s healthcare system.”

After listening to both sides, the magistrate granted interim bail to Chhetri. “He (Chhetri) cannot be made ambulant at this moment. He needs to be under close observation of doctors,” he read out from the order around 9.30pm, some four hours after the hearing ended.

Chhetri’s son Milan, a doctor at a private hospital, thanked chief minister Mamata Banerjee following the order.

Arguing for Pronab Dasgupta’s bail, Tapen Roychowdhury said his client needed special care as both his knees had been replaced. “If granted bail, he won’t flee or tamper with evidence. Besides, he was supposed to perform surgeries on a number of patients. At the least, he should be allowed to sleep on an orthopaedic bed, which he requires,” Roychowdhury said.

Arranging an orthopaedic bed would not be possible for the police, replied the public prosecutor. “If Dasgupta’s family wants to provide it, we have no objection.”

The police custody of AMRI officials Preeta Banerjee and Sajid Hossain has been extended till February 6. The judicial custody of two others, Satyabrata Upadhyay and Sanjib Pal, has been extended till February16.

Bail for Chhetri, first in AMRI case

KOLKATA: Ailing cardiac specialist Mani Chhetri was granted bail in the AMRI fire case on Thursday. The 93-year-old is the only one to have been released. His counsel dropped a bombshell during the hearing, claiming Chhetri had resigned as AMRI managing director in March 2011 – 10 months before the fire that killed 91 people on December 9.

This runs contrary to chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s statement that Chhetri was arrested because he was the AMRI MD and was “key to vital decisions”. Mamata has repeatedly defended Chhetri’s arrest in the face of growing resentment among the medical community, pointing out that the hospital’s license was issued in his name. On Thursday, the fate of Chhetri’s bail petition hung in the balance for five hours before Alipore chief judicial magistrate H K Chowdhury announced his decision at 9.30pm. Chhetri will be on bail till February 16, considering his “failing health”. He had suffered a blackout soon after his arrest. His son said he had a mild heart attack.

Chhetri wasn’t even brought to court on Thursday. “He is severely ill. Please take a look at the (report of the) medical board of SSKM Hospital. After the cardiac arrest and blackout on the night of February 27 (in police custody), he suffered a haemorrhage. His hands have turned blackish. The medical report says he has a low platelet count. He is on the call of the almighty. Let him, at least, live in peace at 93,” his counsel Samaraditya Pal said.

Public prosecutor Sakti Bhattacharya wanted to have Chhetri’s custody for a while longer but did not argue on Chhetri’s health. “He is ailing, which is why a medical board at SSKM Hospital is treating him. He is being provided the best healthcare facilities the state can provide. Not for a single moment did police make an attempt to speak to him in hospital, though he is in police custody. Let him get well, then we can speak. He can lead to the recovery of certain documents that are crucial to investigations and hence we pray for a further police custody,” he said.

Metro victim was student under pressure

KOLKATA: The youth who committed suicide at Jatin Das Park Metro station on Tuesday evening was identified as a student of St Xavier’s College who was unable to cope with rising pressure of studies and high self-expectation.

On Tuesday, the youth could not be identified as he was sent to SSKM Hospital, where he was declared dead. On Wednesday, police started a probe and identified him as Aditya Goenka, 19, a first-year BCom student at St Xavier’s. He is from Asansol’s Sitarampur police station area and had been staying in Poddar Chhatrabas.

Around 6 pm on Tuesday, the youth jumped in front of a Dum Dum-bound train. Initially, no suicide note was found. Metro services remained suspended between Maidan and Tollygunge from 6 pm to 6.32 pm.

“Later, we found a suicide note in his pocket where he stated that he could not cope with the pressure of studies,” said joint commissioner (headquarters) Jawed Shamim.

Investigation revealed that Aditya was an extremely bright student who managed to get admission in the BCom stream of St Xavier’s College. Investigators spoke to Aditya’s friends and found that he was not in his usual self for the last few days. But nobody had any clue that he could commit suicide. They found him extremely focused and studious. He used to work too hard to achieve his target. No one knew that he had lost hope.

“We did not know that one of our students had committed suicide,” said a senior teacher of the college. “Parents should have come and told us. But we are a bit confused why he took such an extreme step. The last exam of BCom first year was held in December. The result of the exam is yet to be declared. The next exam is in May. So, there was no apparent urgent provocation that could have led him to take this step.”

Metro disrupted twice in a day

Metro services were disrupted twice during the evening peak hour on Wednesday, first by a suicide attempt and then by a fire scare.

At 5.45pm, a man in his early sixties — later identified as a resident of Haldibari in Cooch Behar — jumped in the path of a train at Rabindra Sadan station. But because he landed between the two tracks, the train passed over him without causing him any serious injury.

“The driver had spotted the man jumping and had applied the emergency brakes,” said a senior Metro official. “But by the time the train stopped, the man was already underneath it. We later reversed it to find him unconscious but alive and cramped inside the space between the two tracks.”

Normal Metro services were restored from 6.10pm after the man was brought out from the tracks and sent to SSKM Hospital with minor cuts and bruises.

Police later found out that the man was terminally ill and had been undergoing chemotherapy at SSKM Hospital.

“He had recently lost his wife to cancer and was extremely depressed. This probably drove him to commit suicide,” said a senior officer of Bhowanipore police station.

Services were again stalled for 20 minutes at 6.15pm after thick black smoke was noticed from inside the Metro tunnel at Park Street station around 6.15pm.

According to Metro sources, the smoke was first spotted by a passenger, who immediately brought the matter to the notice of an RPF jawan. The jawan, in turn, alerted the station superintendent and trains were suspended again.

Two fire tenders rushed to the spot and the firemen, along with Metro officials, entered the tunnel to search for the source of the fire. Fearing a possible short circuit, the power supply was also cut off.

After the officials failed to locate any source of fire, they came outside the tunnel to find waste material — some plastic, paper, tree leaves and tyres — burning at the Maidan, near the station gate.

“The smoke from the fire somehow entered the tunnel through the ventilation duct and entered the platform. As the blaze was doused, the smoke also dwindled and trains ran as usual from 6.35pm,” the official said.

nFire: Nine shops were gutted in a blaze at Jinjirabazar in Taratala early on Wednesday. Four tenders put out the blaze.

Committee threatens stir against eviction

KOLKATA: A day after hawkers were evicted from Harish Mukherjee Road, a section of them attempted to return to the pavement opposite SSKM Hospital.

Members of the Aituc-affiliated Calcutta Hawkers’ Men’s Union alleged that they have been unfairly evicted from the pavement for they had been allowed to sit there by the Left Front-led Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) board. The police removed the hawkers and a picket was posted on the road to keep them out.

Later, the Union and the Hawker Sangram Committee held a press meet. They submitted a list of the evicted hawkers who had been permitted by the KMC to sell their wares there. It was also pointed out that hawking could not be prevented opposite a hospital.

“Since the hawkers were not encroaching the adjacent pavement, they can’t be thrown out. Neither the national hawker policy of 2004 nor the rules led down by the KMC-appointed apex committee prohibit hawking on opposite pavements. More importantly, these hawkers are not new entrants, as has been wrongly claimed. They have been there for years and were permitted to conduct business by the KMC,” said Shaktiman Ghosh of the Hawker Sangram Committee.

The hawker unions will have a meeting on Thursday to chalk out their course of action. “We shall return to the Harish Mukherjee pavement. If we are prevented, then we shall launch a prolonged agitation,” said Ghosh.

He went on to allege that the police and the civic authorities were gulty of receiving bribes from hawkers who have encroached pavements. “Rather than evicting legitimate hawkers, they should identify and haul up those who have been encroaching prohibited zones. We are ready to cooperate wioth the policein this regard,” Ghosh added.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee said hawkers can’t threaten the government or hold it to ransom.

“They are entitled to their opinion. But I don’t have to listen to what they say. Our government has always been in favour iof hawkers, it remains so and will continue to support hawkers in future. But we are not going to listen to their self-styled leaders who are only interested in raising money. The KMC and the police is drawing up a policy which will be in place very soon,” Mamata said.

No fresh hawkers in city, vows CM

KOLKATA: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday promised not to allow any fresh encroachments of the city’s pavements after she personally intervened to stop fresh takeover of a sidewalk near SSKM Hospital. Mamata was irked after hawkers protesting their eviction blocked roads for an hour. The roadblock left the officebound traffic in the city’s south paralyzed.

Mamata, on her way to the Writers’ , stopped at Elgin Road – media in tow – to resolve the impasse. “I saw a roadblock near SSKM hospital . At the behest of a CPM leader, hawkers had encroached at least eight to 10 places there waving red flags. How can encroachment happen ? There is a school and a hospital there. If fire tenders are to reach in case of any emergency, they can barely move,” she said. The CM alleged a few people were making money in the name of “Sangram Committee.”

Office-goers held up by hawkers’ protest

KOLKATA: About 150-odd hawkers, who eke out a living on the small stretch of Harish Mukherjee Road and in places between Elgin Road and AJC Bose Road, are either affiliated to the Citu-affiliated Calcutta Street Hawkers Association or the Hawker Sangram Committee. They primarily flank the pavement right opposite the SSKM hospital . During Subrata Mukherjee’s tenure as Kolkata mayor, the KMC had convinced the hawkers – who encroached both sides of the road then – to leave out the pavement leading to the hospital gates. An exception was made for a few fruit vendors at the Asutosh Mukherjee Road-Elgin Road crossing. These hawkers claimed they were given identify cards and listed in KMC records.

Babu Mondal, 37, a hawker who sells fruit at the spot said he’d been doing business there since he was 13 years old. A Citu member, he claimed that on Monday afternoon the Bhowanipore police had told them to clear out their makeshift stalls for beautification work on the pavements. “We told them the union had asked us to stay put till they sorted out the matter ,” Mondal said. The Police were back on Tuesday morning , first urging and then forcing the hawkers to remove their stalls. Firoz Ahmed, a Hawker Sangram Committee cardholder, claimed he had been selling clothes on this footpath for the last decade. “How can we suddenly move out?”

The police action prompted all hawkers, irrespective of their political affiliations, to squat on the street in protest. The ripples of the standoff were felt in far-off Kalighat as traffic police failed miserably to divert rush hour traffic through the feeder roads into Ashutosh Mukherjee Road.

Mamata’s arguments, however, was disputed by Assembly opposition leader Surjya Kanta Mishra and Hawker Sangram Committee president Shaktiman Ghosh. Mishra said they were there since long.

R S Agarwal sent to SSKM again

KOLKATA: AMRI director RS Agarwal has once again been sent to SSKM Hospital. On Monday, after a marathon hearing, chief judicial magistrate at Alipore court ordered to keep him at SSKM Hospital for treatment till January 16.

Earlier on the day, following a major confusion, Agarwal was produced in the court at 4.20pm in an ambulance. Since noon, the police and the hospital authorities remained busy passing the responsibility to each other about his production. Police

kept claiming that the hospital authorities were entrusted to produce him with our help in their ambulance and medical staffs. The hospital authorities denied it and claimed police were supposed to take him to the court. Finally, the order copy of previous hearing on December 16 was faxed to hospital authority and then in an ambulance police produced him at court escorted by medical team and oxygen cylinder.

The public prosecutor claimed that Agarwal’s physical condition is stable now and no need to keep him in SSKM hospital. The prosecution appealed to send Agarwal into the jail hospital. The defense counsel protested and said that the jail hospital has no facility of cardiac and orthopedic treatment. The defense counsel also produced the letter of jail department where they mentioned that jail hospital have no special arrangement of cardiac and orthopedic treatment.

The prosecution was not convinced and claimed, if necessary, the jail medical officer may shift him to other hospital for better treatment

The defense counsel even filed a bail petition on health grounds and requested the court to allow Agarwal to be treated at his own home under police guard. The court, however, sent him again to SSKM hospital

He will be produced before the court on January 16.