Private hospitals in Bengal told not to refuse accident cases

KOLKATA - The West Bengal government has told private healthcare service providers that it is their primary and moral duty to treat people injured in road accidents and make them primarily stable.

“We had a meeting Wednesday with officials of a few of the prominent private hospitals. We told them that if a person injured in a road accident is brought to their hospital then they have to provide these patients with primary stabilisation. Because private hospitals also have a life saving duty,” said Anirudha Kar, director of health services, West Bengal government.

The meeting comes in the wake of Peerless Hospital, a premier private hospital of the city, being ransacked by a mob about two months back after it allegedly declined to admit a person injured in a road accident.

The meeting was attended by officials of private hospitals, including Calcutta Medical Research Institute (CMRI), Kothari Hospitals, B.P. Poddar Hospital, AMRI hospitals (both Salt Lake and Gariahat) and Woodlands.

“After getting primary stabilization if the patient agrees to continue their treatment in the primary hospital, then its okay and if they don’t want to continue then the patients will be transferred to other hospitals where the patient wants to get admitted,” Kar added.

The state home and health departments have taken an initiative to place ambulances stocked with equipment and trained personnel at 12 strategic points across the city.

Whenever any news of road accident reaches the control room of the city police headquarters at Lalbazar, these ambulances will be rushed to the spot.

The ambulance personnel will provide the victims with primary treatment before they are shifted to hospital for primary stabilisation.