A hospital in Maniktala, one of whose owners is BJP councillor Sajal Ghosh, has announced that it will not treat any Bangladeshi patient for an indefinite period protesting “disrespect to the Indian flag” in Bangladesh.

A director of JN Ray Hospital, on Raja Dinendra Street, on Saturday said they had treated and discharged all Bangladeshi patients who were undergoing treatment at the hospital, but no new patients will be admitted.

Any patient from Bangladesh calling the hospital seeking admission will be informed about the hospital’s decision, said Subhransu Bhakta, another director and co-owner of JN Ray Hospital.

“I know hospital services are for human beings but what is happening in Bangladesh is inhuman. We have decided not to admit or provide any other treatment to any patient from Bangladesh for an indefinitie period,” Bhakta said in a video message that was circulating on social media on Saturday.

“They have disrespected the Indian flag and we are stopping treatment of Bangladeshi patients in response,” Bhakta later told The Telegraph over the phone.

About 20 per cent of the 141 beds at JN Ray Hospital are usually filled up with Bangladeshi patients, Bhakta said.

Ghosh, the BJP councillor of Ward 50 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, said: “I will not comment because I do not want it to become a political issue or a communal issue. This is a question of patriotism and let it remain so.”

Many in the health care fraternity in Calcutta refused to take the same path.

Officials of several other private hospitals said they would refrain from such measures as a “patient has no nationality, creed, caste or religion”.

The Narendra Modi government tabled a written reply on Bangladesh in Parliament on Friday.

It said the government had taken serious note of the “incidents of violence against Hindus and other minorities, their homes and business establishments and of attacks on temples/ religious places”.

India has shared its concern with the Bangladesh government.

A number of hospitals in Calcutta, especially some of those along EM Bypass, treat a large number of patients from Bangladesh every month.

The numbers have dropped since August when former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted from the country amid unrest.

An official of the state health department said the hospital’s refusal to treat Bangladeshi patients is a “delicate issue”.

“I have to see what the law says. It is a private hospital and has some freedom to operate. We have to examine the law to see whether the department can say anything to the hospital,” said the health department official.

Officials of several private hospitals in the city said they did not subscribe to the views of the management of JN Ray Hospital.

“This is an immature decision. We should do our work and let the government deal with this issue. We run a hospital and our job is to provide the best treatment to anyone who comes to us irrespective of religion, nationality, caste, creed or sex. We will not take any such measures,” said a top official of one hospital.

“I think when a patient is in need, it is the hospital’s responsibility to provide good care and treatment to the patient. We should not generalise all people of a country. As a hospital we cannot discriminate between our patients,” said Richa Singh Debgupta, chief of strategy and operations at Fortis Healthcare Limited.

Trouble in the neighbouring country had already brought down the number of Bangladeshis coming to Calcutta for treatment.

The few who are here in the city are anxious about their homes and scared about the outcome of the spiralling violence being reported from the country.

At RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences, the number of Bangladeshi patients in the clinics has dropped from about 250 a
day to less than 100. The number of patients getting admitted to the institute has dropped from about 10 a day to one or two.

About 150 Bangladeshi patients used to visit the OPD clinics of Peerless Hospital every day. The number has dropped to 40 now.

“We used to have about 20 patients from Bangladesh under treatment in our hospital at any time. There is no one from Bangladesh under treatment in our hospital now,” said an official of Peerless Hospital.