Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who is also the state’s health minister, said on Wednesday that her infection had become “septic” because of wrong treatment.
In her last known visit to any hospital for treatment, the chief minister went to SSKM Hospital, the state’s premier government-run healthcare institution, after returning from Spain and the UAE in September.
Mamata said she could not get up for seven days as she was administered saline through a channel made in her arm.
“Owing to wrong treatment, my infection became septic. The way saline channel is made in the arm, I was in that situation for seven days. I could not get up,” she said.
Mamata raised the issue of wrong treatment while saying that some journalists were wrong to say that she went to Nabanna after 55 days on Tuesday. Mamata said she had been working all the while from home.
“Many of you have said that I came to Nabanna after 55 days. How many chief ministers go to office? How many of them work from home? The chief minister’s residence has been turned into an office,” she said.
“You have also included my 13-day Spain trip, the 13-day Puja vacation. I inaugurated 1,200 pujas over six days spending six hours every day. You have also included that. I did the cabinet meeting and you have included that, too. You have included all these dates and the news that you are giving to people is wrong,” she said.
Mamata held a cabinet meeting at her home on October 12. She inaugurated Durga pujas virtually from home.
“You can at best say that I was under IV (intra-venous drip) for 10-12 days,” Mamata said.
“On four days of the Puja, I was awake till 5am so there were no incidents. Many people were witness to that,” Mamata said.
On October 27, the chief minister had gone to Red Road for the Durga Puja carnival and spent close to five hours there.
It was not immediately known whether Mamata acquired any infection over the past few weeks.
She had gone to SSKM Hospital for the treatment of an injury to her left knee. Following her last visit to the hospital on September 24, a senior official at SSKM said she had suffered an injury to her already injured left knee. A series of tests, including an MRI, was conducted on her. She was advised rest for 10 days.
Mamata suffered the injury during a visit to Spain in September. In July, the chief minister had undergone a microsurgery at SSKM to reduce pain in the left knee, following an injury while alighting from a chopper after an emergency landing near Siliguri in June.
Calls from The Telegraph to Monimoy Bandyopadhyay, director of the Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research (SSKM Hospital), went unanswered on Wednesday evening.
He also did not respond to a WhatsApp message from this newspaper seeking his reaction to the chief minister’s comment that she was a victim of wrong treatment.