Saturday, December 10, 2011

The AMRI Fire

A friend of mine lost her father in this utterly shocking, senseless tragedy.
He called her at 4.30 a.m yesterday morning, telling her that he was suffocating.
She rushed to the hospital, as did her sister.
When we met her today, her greatest sorrow was that she could not save her father.
He had fractured his femur, and was in the ICU awaiting surgery.
He was over eighty, and a heart patient, who had lived a full life.
An active man, unable to move because of his fractured thigh bone.
But to go this way?
To be brought down from the third floor by a crane, in a sling, probably already dead of suffocation?

All because we do not strictly enforce safety regulations.
Corruption and callousness rule.
So many lives have been lost.

My mother stayed in this hospital for ten days.
My father was treated here in the emergency room.
I am thankful, always, that they both died at home.


People are born and people die, every single day.
Accidents happen.
So do natural calamities.
But something like this is horrendous, simply because it didn't need to happen. It should not have happened. Such a tragedy should never happen again, but it will, as long as ignorance, callousness and corruption remain.

I am numb with fury and grief.
How many more deaths will it take for our systems to work as they should???????
How many??????

12 comments:

  1. My God Dips...what a painful, ghastly way to die...please pass on my condolences to your friend.

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  2. If death happens due to callousness it hurts even more...one does feel angry and sad at the same time

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  3. my condolences with your friend's family.. it could so easily have been prevented, and that makes it so very difficult to understand and accept.

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  4. It was a horrific incident. The more I hear about AMRI, I am enraged.
    My prayers for your friend's family

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  5. So sorry to read this. Sadly Human life has no value here

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  6. so sorry to hear about your friend's loss. this is such a tragic incident. one that could have easily prevented. i understand your anger.

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  7. What a horrible tragedy and what a terrible way for your friend to lose her father!

    We also had a big fire in HK a couple of weeks ago. Number of dead - 9. Although the fire was in a poor area with a street market, the street market had been planned so that old buildings with only one escape route in case of fire would have adequate space to get out. After this fire, this was deemed not sufficient and a couple of days after the fire, the district council was in negotiations with the street hawkers for further measures to be taken. This may not guarantee no fires in the future but at least action gets taken.

    I have a feeling that once the loss of lives has been mourned in India, nothing will change.

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  8. I'm so sorry to hear about your friend's loss. This was really scary news. Anando's parents have both been in this hospital - his father as recently as September. What is tragic is that despite the numerous fires Kolkata has seen in the last 3-4 years, the level of preparedness does not seem to have changed, nor have they been able to pre-empt these fires by better planning and rigorous checking :(

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  9. Patient safety is not a concern for hospitals. Regency Hospital is a well-known hospital in Kanpur, UP and the management claims to give quality treatment to the patients. Here are two incidents, you judge for yourself:
    I accompanied a patient for X-ray, the patient is 70 year old lady, not very firm, needs help walking and climbing. There were two technicians who took x-ray and both of them left the patient on X-ray table and went to another room to check if the x-ray they have just taken is good. The patient was trying to get down herself and was about to fall from the table when I noticed from outside the room and ran to catch her from falling but it did bruise her arm.
    The X-ray technicians had to repeat the x-ray on the same patient and this time I told the technicians but this time they did not close the tray properly and it was jetting out and the patient got hit by it and bled. A diabetic patient getting wounded at x-ray table? Both these incidents should have been reported but no one reported them.
    Third incident happened with me, also at Regency Hospital, patient was being transported and the stretcher hit me. The patient transportation staff did not even have the courtesy to stop and say sorry, are you OK.
    This is just an example of patient safety and caring attitude. I am told the said hospital is trying to get NABH certification. Is anyone listening, UP Government, Chief Minister, Health Minister, health secretary NABH people. If you are listening then do some

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  10. My condolences to your friend. Saw this in the news and was shaken.

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  11. Really callous. These are avoidable deaths. And all due to indifference of the authorities. They were making enough money, then why were they reluctant to spend on safety measures? Would they do it in their own homes?

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  12. my friend's grandpa died while he was riding his bicycle and a bus hit him, killed him and didn't even stop. My grandma died, because she was given an injection which shouldn't have been for her condition. That they died in their 80's makes no difference, all though that's what I tell my dad when he goes through the guilt all over again.

    Sometimes I feel there is little left for decent people in this country.

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