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Children's hospital in Kolkata closed following death of 6 inmates

Aggrieved relatives thronged the hospital premises since early Monday morning alleging gross negligence on the part of the doctors and medical staff, which the hospital authorities denied.

The hospital authorities were tight-lipped about the development, but put up a notice stopping fresh admission citing shortage of beds and oxygen.

Minister of State for Health Pratyush Mukherjee defended the referral hospital saying it provided the best possible care and that 'most of the patients arrive only at the terminal stage'.

He said that Director of Health Services Prabhakar Chatterjee would inquire into the cause of the death of the six children.

Describing the death as 'natural', Chatterjee too defended the hospital saying medical staff could not do much about the 'extremely bad cases, which are referred to them at a late stage'.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress MLA Paresh Pal, along with his supporters and some of the patients' relatives, stormed into hospital superintendent A Mondal's office and demanded his resignation.

A strong police picket was posted inside the hospital to prevent any untoward incident.

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