Two pilgrims were evacuated from the Ganga Sagar mela by an air ambulance after they were taken ill and admitted to MR Bangur Hospital in Tollygunge on Friday.
Senior officers said Sumitra Devi, 55, from Sitamarhi in Bihar, was waiting outside the Kapil Muni Ashram in the fairground when she started feeling unwell after throwing up once.
Volunteers shifted her to a medical camp nearby where doctors checked her parameters and realised that she needed hospitalisation.
The air ambulance was called in and Sumitra was flown to an airstrip at the Dumurjola stadium in Howrah and rushed to the government-run super-speciality hospital.
Doctors at MR Bangur Hospital suspected that Sumitra suffered a transient ischemic attack or a brief stroke and required emergency medical attention.
Symptoms of transient ischemic attack include weakness on one side of the body, vision problems, imbalance and slurred speech. These are transient and often resolve within 24 hours, doctors said.
Another pilgrim, Swapna Mukhopadhyay, 42, from Durgapur, too fell sick at the fair. She was rushed to a medical camp where doctors suggested that she be shifted to a hospital. The air ambulance flew her to Howrah, from where she was shifted to MR Bangur Hospital.
Doctors said the condition of both patients was stable.
“The air ambulance service will continue till January 16. The flying time to Kolkata is around 30 minutes,” said a senior transport department official.
Besides air ambulances, four water ambulances and close to 100 ambulances have been kept ready to meet any emergency. Additional beds have been readied at hospitals near the fair, which attracts lakhs of pilgrims from across the country.
The holy dip for Makar Sankranti will begin at the midnight of January 14 and continue till the noon of January 16, senior officials said.
A control room has been set up at the Ganga Sagar fairground to keep a watch on developments in Kachuberia, Lot-8 and Namkhana, apart from the entire fairground.
As many as 45 vessels and 100 launches, fitted with GPS tracking devices, have been pressed into service to ferry pilgrims this time. Members of the disaster response force from the state and the Centre have been deployed along the coast.
“We have installed over 1,150 cameras to cover the mela ground,” said a senior police officer.