Bhai Phonta in the morning and cricket in the afternoon led to a quiet Wednesday at hospitals and clinics across Calcutta.
Several doctors had not scheduled surgeries or procedures for Wednesday, while OPDs at most hospitals looked deserted.
A surgeon at a private hospital off EM Bypass said he usually does three surgeries in a day, three days a week.
“But today, I kept only one surgery in the morning, because I did not want to miss even one ball of the semi-final,” said the surgeon. “I have kept an extra day for surgery this week on Friday, to accommodate the patients.”
A physician usually sees 15 patients at a south Calcutta clinic every evening. On Wednesday evening, he saw only seven patients.
“We saw a sharp dip in OPD footfall and procedures at our hospitals today. In both cases, the numbers were 35 per cent less compared with a normal Wednesday,” said R. Venkatesh, group COO, Narayana Health, which runs several hospitals in Calcutta, including the RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences.
The footfall in the OPDs at the three AMRI Hospitals in the city was 40 per cent less compared with the weekday average. A similar dip was observed in the number of surgeries and procedures at the hospitals, said an official of the group.
“Many surgeries that had been originally scheduled for Wednesday were later shifted to other days. These surgeries will be performed later this week,” said Rupak Barua, group CEO, AMRI Hospitals.
Medica Superspecialty Hospital, too, saw a 20 per cent fall in OPD patients and a 30 per cent dip in surgeries and procedures, said Ayanabh Deb Gupta, joint managing director, Medica Group of Hospitals.
At Suraksha Diagnostics, off EM Bypass-Rashbehari Avenue connector, there were barely any patients through the day.
“Even the number of people who came to collect reports of pathological and radiological examinations was very few. Barely anyone came to collect reports in the evening,” said Somnath Chatterjee, director of Suraksha Diagnostics.
Employees were also on leave at several hospitals and clinics.
“We operated with skeletal staff on Wednesday,” said Sudipta Mitra, chief executive of Peerless Hospital.
The number of surgeries and procedures at the hospital on Wednesday was 50 per cent less compared with the weekday average. “Mostly emergency orthopaedic surgeries took place today,” said Mitra.
"Wednesdays usually witness heavy footfall at OPDs because most senior doctors are available. But today, there were hardly any patients in three sessions since the morning,” said Mitra.