Fire-ravaged AMRI-Dhakuria resumes indoor admission

The outdoor patient services became operational on July 5 at the main building and the adjacent Annexe II unit offering a total number of 202 beds (including 60 critical care beds).

The out-patient department (OPD) had earlier commenced operation from December 30, 2013 at both main building and annexe-II.

AMRI resumed operation with a billboard campaign with the tagline "Trust is Back", aimed at image correction after the horrors of a fire that asphyxiated to death several patients.

The main building of AMRI, Dhakuria has now become fully operational after obtaining all statutory clearances including fire and clinical establishment licences as well as trade and environmental clearances, officials claimed.

“We have given them permission to open the main building situated on the front side. We have given them license to operate both the outdoor and indoor facilities there. They had applied for licence from the state health department. The authorities have met all fire safety specifications,” state health services director BR Sathpathy said.

He said the expert team of the state heath department had visited the hospital for inspection. “They have green-signalled everything,” Sathpathy said.

A statement released by the hospital authority said that the new and renovated AMRI is equipped with the latest fire safety measures and it meets the standard norms of the National Building Code (NBC) as well.

Earlier, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had cancelled the licence of AMRI  where at least 93 people, including several patients, were killed following a massive fire in December 2011. The CM had made the announcement shortly after the fire service department filed an FIR charging the hospital authorities with not taking adequate fire prevention measures.

Initial investigations had revealed the fire broke out in the basement as a result of which most of the patients could not come out of the hospital and succumbed to acute suffocation.