Burn victim Lopamudra Mitra's over 12 hour ordeal before she was finally provided a hospital bed is a pointer to the dismal state of medical infrastructure in the state-run hospitals here. Mitra (27), who sustained 96 per cent burns, had to be taken to five hospitals before finally getting treatment.

When Lopamudra, a resident of Dum Dum Cantonment, sustained burn injuries around 6:45 pm on Monday, her family could not have imagined that it would be 11 am the next day before Mitra would finally get a bed in a hospital. Lopamudra was first taken to Dum Dum Municipality Hospital where she was referred to the state-aided RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. However, the authorities there allegedly denied her admission.

“We brought her to SSKM hospital around 12:30 pm when the hospital authorities told us that there was no bed. We then took her to two other private nursing homes. But none of them had burn wards. We had to come back to SSKM and leave her on the floor of the emergency unit till they finally shifted her to a bed today at 11:00 am,” said Sushenjit Das, Mitra’s cousin.

“We tried to call the superintendent of the hospital but his cell phone was switched off. Our patient lay on the floor for hours unattended and without proper treatment,” said sister-in-law Mamata Das.

Ashok Ghosh, medical superintendent of SSKM Hospital, clarified: “We never refused to admit the patient but since we had no beds we asked the relatives to keep her on the floor till we could make some arrangements.”