Kolkata: The patient footfall at RG Kar Medical College’s Emergency unit nosedived on Tuesday. The unit usually sees an average footfall of 200 patients daily but on Tuesday, it halved to around 100 patients. While officials claimed that such ups and downs in emergency patient count happen, a section of doctors apprehend that this could be a direct fallout of the two recent deaths, especially the one on Monday where a gasping patient had to walk 40 metres and climb a flight of stairs to avail washroom facilities.According to hospital records, on Thursday, the Emergency recorded a footfall of 231 patients. The next day, a killer lift crushed Arup Banerjee to death in the Trauma Care building. The 40-year-old had come to the hospital with his three-year-old son, who sustained an arm injury. He, along with his son and wife, got trapped in the lift. While the mother and the kid managed to survive, the father died in the freak accident. On that day, the Emergency unit recorded a footfall of 208.On Saturday, the patient count dipped to 188. But the next day, it went up to 215 and further to 278 on Monday, the day Biswajit Samanta collapsed to death at the pay-and-use toilet door. It further dipped to 98 on Tuesday.“I am staying on the hospital premises for about eight days as my nephew is admitted in the Trauma Care building for accident-related multiple injuries. While the surroundings of the building are always bustling with patients’ relatives, today it looks quiet,” said Abdul Hossain Sardar, a Kamalpur resident.Among the few who turned up on Tuesday was Shibu Singh from Nadia, who came for the treatment of his 12-year-old son, who sustained a hand injury. “I was a bit scared to come here after hearing about the two deaths. But I am relieved that my son is getting good medical care,” said Singh.Patients’ relatives breathed a sigh of relief that both the functional lifts now have operators. “The doctors are providing good service. But the emergency unit lacks space and facilities, including something basic like a patient toilet that led to the death of a patient,” said a patient’s relative.
