A Trinamul leader from East Midnapore, on Tuesday, alleged scanty infrastructure and manpower at a district Covid-19 hospital where he was admitted for treatment.

Partha Pratim Das, the health executive of the East Midnapore Zilla Parishad and defeated Trinamul candidate for Khejuri, took to Facebook to share his “nightmare”.

Das was admitted at the Chandipur Multispeciality Hospital for 15 days after he tested positive for Covid. The hospital is a private facility, but is managed by the state.

“The hospital has an infrastructure of 100 beds. The government has sanctioned 150 beds. But because of pressure around 200 patients are being admitted. There were only 14 doctors. How do you expect to run the facility like this?” Das, who recovered on Monday, told this paper.

Das, a doctor by profession, in his Facebook post, narrates about a night when he was told that the doctor will be absent. According to Das, at that moment there were 16 to 17 critical patients in the ICCU. “I left everything and went out for a round thinking of the patients,” Das wrote.

He recognised many faces among the patients in the ICCU. According to Das’s Facebook post four persons succumbed that night.

“This recovery period was a nightmare for me,” Das wrote. He told this paper that given the current situation the government must focus on safe homes, given the pressure on hospitals. Referring to the Kerala government’s initiative to cap the fees for the safe homes at Rs 2,000, Das said that the Bengal government must follow suit.

East Midnapore’s assistant district magistrate (treasury) Ashis Saha, in charge of Covid-19 management, said: “We can’t comment on someone’s Facebook post. We have increased Covid beds in the district.”

“The infrastructure is much better now. Yet if we get a specific complaint we shall look into the matter,” he said.

East Midnapore registers 800 to 1,000 Covid daily. As of Tuesday, there are 5,361 active Covid-19 cases in the district, with 312 deaths in the second wave. The total number of affected patients in the district since the first wave is 41,269.