Patient asks for water, Kolkata hospital staff give him acid instead

KOLKATA: A patient was handed a bottle of acid when he asked for water to wash his hands at Eastern Railways’ B R Singh Hospital on Sunday. His fingers were severely charred, but the hospital tried to hush up the lapse and didn’t inform his family. Now, his fingers have to be amputated to prevent an infection that has set in from spreading.

Dilip Kumar Mitra was admitted to the hospital on September 18 with respiratory problems. On Sunday, he asked a hospital employee for some water when he went to the toilet. As he was feeble, he could not reach the wash basin.

The employee passed him a bottle filled with a clear liquid. He screamed when he poured the contents on his left hand. Only then did the employee realise that he had given the patient a bottle of acid. Mitra’s wounds were dressed and bandaged, but the hospital authority did not care to inform his family.

‘‘When we visited him on Sunday, his hands were bandaged. He had become even weaker. We thought the bandage was needed as he had a needle wound where the saline drip had been inserted,’’ said son-in-law Prashanta Ghosh.

‘‘The family got to the truth when they were told to sign a bond for an operation to amputate his fingers. How could the hospital keep the incident under wraps for four days? My father-in-law was too weak to speak and they took advantage of this,’’ said Ghosh.

The family lodged a complaint with the hospital authorities before doing the same at Narkeldanga police station.