The abysmal negligence of a top state government hospital and the helplessness of the fire brigade officials came to light when a mentally ill patient jumped to his death in front of their eyes.
Ahut Kishore Ram who was admitted to the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Hospital at Kalyani in Nadia after a failed suicide attempt, had gone missing on Monday.
The deceased, a resident of Haringhata, ultimately ended his life in presence of a large crowd and two units of ill-equipped fire brigade officials who helplessly witnessed the gruesome suicide. They could not even spread a net to cushion his fall.
The negligent hospital authority had no knowledge that the youth had gone missing. They learnt about him only after he had climbed onto the terrace of the hospital and threatened to kill himself.
The entire bizarre drama continued for over an hour and the fire department officials arrived but only as spectators when Ram fell near his feet. Divisional Manager (D) Barrackpur Gourprasad Ghosh said: “You cannot expect Kalyani to have an infrastructure like big cities.” Hospital superintendent Nirupam Biswas said, “We were trying to find him.”
But Bharati Ram, wife of the deceased, said: “The hospital did not take proper care even after knowing that the patient had lost mental balance.”