West Bengal’s first confirmed case of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has had the state government tying itself up in knots. The health authorities clarified today that the first confirmed SARS patient was not ‘‘totally’’ cured.‘‘According to WHO protocol, we can’t call Asitabha Purakayastha SARS-free. Even though he had no outward signs of the disease, he could still be a carrier. We would move him to the Infectious Diseases (ID) hospital,’’ said Health Secretary Asim Barman.On Monday, AMRI-Apollo, the private hospital where Purakayastha had checked in, had came under tremendous pressure from local people to evict the patient. AMRI, panicking as other patients fled, wanted to send him home as SARS-free. Health Secretary Barman had rallied then to the hospital’s side and said it was following WHO norms in labelling the patient as fit to be released. And today, AMRI, reeling under negative publicity, said Purakayastha was free to stay on.Purakayastha’s family is dead set against shifting him to the ID hospital, since he is a heart patient and the ID hospital is not equipped with even the basics for cardiac cases. After meeting health department officials today, a spokesman for the family, Swapan Majumdar, said: ‘‘Saturday and Sunday, they said Purakayastha is positive. On Monday, they said he is SARS-free. And today they have once again reverted back to say he is not SARS free. How do we know the real status of the patient?’’ Meanwhile, reports said the city’s sixth SARS suspect was admitted to the ID hospital at Beliaghata on Monday night. Worst still, at the hospital where the government claims to have made arrangements for SARS victims, even doctors failed to turn up for work today fearing infection. And as if things were not bizzare enough already, blackmarketeers have swung into action making all types of masks, even the surgical ones that do not provide protection from the SARS virus, scarce. An office-bearer of the Indian Medical Assocciation confirmed this. On the government front, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya called a meeting of senior health officials and experts today, urging them to gear up and face the challenge. Orders have been placed for nearly 200 protective masks. The panic is taking a heavy toll on normal life. With the AMRI hospital in south Kolkata already becoming the centre of a scare zone that has hit business, latest indications show that people with even simple fever and cough are avoiding neighbours lest they be ostracised as SARS victims. Doctors said fever and chest congestion are a recurring health problem in Kolkata, particularly at this time of the year when the days are very hot and humid. ‘‘It is a phenomenon that is evident every summer,’’ doctors said. ‘‘But the famliar fever, cough and congestion has come to haunt the residents,’’ doctors said. Kolkatans narrated traumatic stories to this correspondent that evince the absolute lack of awareness regarding the spread of SARS virus. A child developed a fever after a swimming session and the rest of the family soon contracted it. Now, the entire family has locked itself in, lest neighbours suspect them to be SARS-infected. And some eople with common cough are avoiding the metro rail of fear of being labelled SARS-infected.
