AMRI authorities plan to reopen fire-hit hospital

Kolkata, April 21 (IANS) The AMRI Hospital authorities are planning to reopen a portion of their complex in Dhakuria, sealed off by Kolkata Police after a major fire choked 94 people to death in one hospital building last December.

"Yes, we are planning to open the unaffected portions of the complex shortly," Manish Goenka, director of Advanced Medicare Research Institute (AMRI) Hospital, told IANS here Saturday.

Goenka, however, declined to give more details, saying, "We need some time to open these units."

Goenka, who was charged with 15 others for the fire tragedy at the hospital, has been recently granted bail by the Calcutta High Court.

The Dec 9 pre-dawn blaze in an annexe building of the hospital, in south Kolkata's Dhakuria, choked to death two nurses and mostly critically ill patients -- many of them in their sleep. Most doctors and other hospital employees were able to escape the building.

All the 16 accused in the case, including 12 directors, were charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

When asked about reopening the hospital complex, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Chandrima Bhattacharya said she was not aware of the development.