Kolkata: Panicked by the presence of a SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) patient in AMRI Apollo Hospital, agitated locals on April 28 demonstrated before the hospital, demanding immediate shifting of the patient to some other government facility earmarked for SARS patients.

Local councillor Dibyendu Biswas, who led the agitators, claimed that the hospital authorities had assured him that the SARS patient, Asitava Purakayastha, would be shifted out of the hospital as soon as possible.

Residents of the nearby slums entered the hospital and demanded immediate removal of Purakayastha reasoning that the disease would spread rapidly if anyone from the slums was affected by SARS as the area was very congested.

Biswas said the locals were genuinely concerned about the possibility of their being affected by SARS due to the presence of Purakayastha, who was recuperating at AMRI.

AMRI sources, admitting that the local councillor had come to demand immediate shifting of Purakayastha, said that he would be released in accordance with World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines.

The sources said they had assured the locals that the hospital authorities had taken all measures to prevent spread of the disease in the area.

The state government had fixed the Infectious Diseases (ID) Hospital as the facility for treating SARS patients and had also fixed isolation wards with 10 beds each for lodging suspected SARS patients.

PTI