Add panic, anxiety to Madan’s ills

KOLKATA: The stress lines were etched deep on transport minister Madan Mitra’s face as he was being wheeled out of SSKM’s VIP ward for a medical test on Friday evening. Around 10 minutes after that, news of Trinamool MP Srinjoy’s Bose’s arrest broke and spread like wildfire.
Like Bose, Mitra was also supposed to appear before CBI for questioning in the Saradha scam on Friday.Instead, he got himself admitted to SSKM Hospital on Thursday afternoon after tiptoeing out of Belle Vue Clinic, apparently on learning that he would not need surgery for the two tumours on his back.
Admitted with a host of health complaints, panic and anxiety disorder were the latest to be added to Mitra’s medical chart on Friday. The otherwise media friendly transport minister refused to respond to questions from journalists when he was being taken from SSKM’s Woodburn ward for an ultrasonography.
About two weeks ago, Mitra was glowing with confidence during a religious event, gushing that Mamata Banerjee had given him a clean chit in the Saradha case. Cut to Friday, forget about Didi, no Trinamool leader — big or small — came to the hospital to see the transport minister. Mitra looked distressed and tired.
The minister, who had walked out of Belle Vue on his own steam on Thursday, needed help to get off the stretcher and walk a few steps on Friday.
In keeping with his claim that he needed a medical board, SSKM authorities set up one on Friday. The eight-doctor team — headed by S Kundu, head of chest department — examined Mitra for about an hour.
“The patient has multiple complaints that include respiratory problems, obstructive sleep apnea, tumours on his lower back, and panic disorder. He is depressed,” said a member of the medical board. As a result of the “panic and anxiety disorder”, the medical board included Dr Pradeep Saha, director of Institute of Psychiatry. Mitra is also diabetic and hypertensive.
As suggested by the medical board, Mitra was wheeled into the USG room to check on the tumours. He will undergo a host of other tests — ECG, echo-cardiogram, CT scan and thyroid and cortizol screening. A repeat MRI has also been recommended.
“Once all the test reports come, the medical board will review his condition and decide the next course of action. For now he will be on conservative treatment,” said ENT head Arunabha Sengupta, a member of the board.
The transport minister may have been deserted by party leaders, but not his hangers-on. Since morning, a bunch of youths on motorbikes kept zipping in and out of SSKM. They lounged on their bikes or swarmed Woodburn Ward. The minister has the whole ward to himself though it has five beds. The other four beds are empty. The ward has been fortified by policemen but an army of Trinamool workers also seems to be keeping watch.
When news of Srinjoy Bose’s arrest broke, Mitra was in the USG room. Outside, Mitra’s supporters went into a huddle and spoke in hushed tones about the development. “If dada (Mitra) hears this, he will get even more upset and it won’t do his health any good. At the same time we cannot keep this news away from him for long,” a supporter was heard telling the rest.