The state government has given its nod to set up a Covid-19 ward in the building of AMRI Hospitals Dhakuria where a fire in December 2011 had killed more than 90 people, an official of the hospital said on Wednesday.

The eight-storey building has been lying unused since the fire.

Rupak Barua, the group CEO of AMRI Hospitals, said they would be able to add 150 more beds when the building would start functioning. “We have about 250 Covid beds in our three hospitals in Dhakuria, Mukundapur and Salt Lake. When this building in Dhakuria starts functioning, we will be able to add another 150 beds,” he said.

“We have given an in-principle approval to AMRI Hospitals to use the building (where the fire broke out) for treating Covid-19 patients only. The approval is based on the condition that they can function only if they meet all the regulatory requirements, which will include approvals from the fire services, Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC), electrical inspector and a licence for clinical establishments,” state health secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam said.

Barua said they had proposed to the government that they be allowed to operate the annexe building in Dhakuria during a discussion on augmenting the number of beds for Covid-19 patients. “The government gave its nod to use the building as a Covid-19 ward,” he said.

The ward will come up across the second, third and fourth floors of the eight-storey building, Barua said. The first floor is an OPD set-up, which cannot be opened.

The hospital will also need approvals from the state pollution control board and a trade licence from the CMC before it can make the building functional again, Barua said. “We are in a position to begin operations within a month provided we get all the regulatory approvals in time. We have started the process….”

“We will start admitting patients only after we are sure that the highest quality and safety standards have been met, and the regulatory bodies also give their nod.”

A fire at the annexe building of the Dhakuria hospital, situated to the south-east of Children’s Little Theatre (CLT) and visible from the Dhakuria bridge, on December 9, 2011, had led to the death of more than 90 people, most of them patients who were admitted there.

Twelve erstwhile directors and four officials of the hospital have been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The charges have been framed and the trial is on, said a defence lawyer in the case.

The government has been trying to increase the number of beds for Covid-19 patients through several means. The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission had asked private hospitals to increase their bed count for Covid-19 ahead of Durga Puja. The hospitals had then said that they would together add another 500 beds.

Barua said on Wednesday that AMRI Hospitals had no more space to increase the number of Covid-19 beds in its available buildings. “We have increased the number of beds within the space as much as we could have, which is why we approached the government with the proposal to use this building,” he said.