TMC founder member Pankaj passes away

Kolkata: One of the key founding members of the Trinamul Congress Pankaj Bandyopadhyay who later became the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly during the Communist regime passed away on Friday amidst a controversy which exposed ills of the health services in the city itself. He was 72. Bandyopadhyay is survived by his wife and a daughter. He was not keeping well for some time.

In the afternoon, when Bandyopadhyay’s condition worsened, his family members rushed him to AMRI, a private hospital in Dhakuria where he was declared brought dead.

Trinamul supremo and chief minister Mamata Banerjee, also the health minister, expressed her shock over the “demise” of Bandyopadhyay on social media. Bandyopadhyay was brought home where his family physician Dipak Bose, however, found him to be alive.

Dr Bose claimed, “His heart was beating. I showed it to his family members. He was released from the hospital while in a comatose stage. The hospital released him without careful examination.”

Stumped by the development, the Trinamul chief meanwhile deleted her condolence message on her Twitter account.

Denying Bandyopadh-yay’s family physician’s allegation, AMRI however stated that an ambulance left the hospital at 12.01 pm and reached his home by 12.15 pm.

“At 12.18 pm, the technician accompanying the ambulance conducted the first ECG on suspicions that he had already expired, after he failed to detect any pulse. The ECG script showed a flat line, denoting that he had indeed passed away. On consultation of the on-duty doctor at the hospital’s emergency, the ambulance brought him to the Dhakuria hospital, where another ECG was conducted at around 12.32 pm to further determine any sign of life,” the statement said.

According to AMRI, a second ECG showed that he expired even before he was brought to the hospital. “Since protocol demanded that if admitted, Mr Banerjee’s body had to undergo a post-mortem examination, accompanying family and friends decided to take the body back to his residence. Despite claims for some quarters that Mr Banerjee was declared dead even before he had actually expired, doctors at AMRI Hospitals-Dhakuria were under no confusion over his demise. Although tragic, the diagnosis at AMRI Hospitals-Dhakuria was proven to be right,” it added.

Bandyopadhyay was then rushed by sports minister Aroop Biswas to Fortis Hospital off EM Bypass where the doctors said he died two hours ago. The chief minister tweeted, “Saddened at the passing away of Pankaj (da) Banerjee. My condolences to his family and admirers.”