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45-yr-old doctor, stabbed trying to protect hospital staffer, dies. She will live
Dr Sanjay Upreti, a cardiologist with the STNM Hospital at Gangtok, the Himalayan state’s capital, was stabbed when he tried to stop an attacker from killing Kala Chettri, a female sanitation staffer at the hospital.
KOLKATA: A 45-year-old doctor, who was stabbed trying to save a female worker from an attacker in a state-run hospital in Sikkim on December 14, died in a private hospital in north Bengal’s Siliguri early on Friday.
Dr Sanjay Upreti, a cardiologist with the STNM Hospital at Gangtok, the Himalayan state’s capital, died at 3.40am on Friday, said Dr Rajeev Trehan, senior consultant, CTVC, Neoita Getwell Health Care Centre in Siliguri where Upreti was admitted.
“He was admitted to the hospital on December 15 and all these days was on the ventilator. His condition was very critical as he had suffered multiple stab wounds. He suffered multi organ failure, kidney shutdown and was undergoing continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT). His left leg had to be amputated,” Dr Trehan said.
Kala Chettri, the female sanitation worker who was the primary target of the attacker, will survive. Her condition is stable and is improving, doctors said.
Sikkim chief minister PS Tamang, who had condemned the murderous attack in the hospital, had arranged to airlift Dr Sanjay Upreti and Kala Chettri to Siliguri for better treatment at a private health facility on Dec 15.
“Sikkim woke up to the heart-breaking news of Dr Upreti succumbing to his injuries and breathing his last this morning at Siliguri,” said Jacob Khaling Rai, political secretary to the Sikkim chief minister, announcing the death of the brave doctor, and a father of a 10-year-old boy.
“The entire state mourns his demise as we have lost a brave son of the soil. We offer our heartfelt condolences to the entire family and hope God gives enough strength to bear this irreplaceable loss,” he said.
BK Tamang, deputy inspector general and spokesperson of the Sikkim Police, said: “The attacker first stabbed Kala Chhetri, a safai karmachari, multiple times and then stabbed Sanjay Upreti, a doctor from the cardiology department.”
Witnesses said it was lunchtime when the attacker appeared on the fourth floor’s corridor and suddenly attacked Kala Chettri with a knife. “She fell on the floor in a pool of blood. The man attacked the doctor when he tried to rescue the woman and ran away,” said a nurse who did not want to be identified.
