Ramola’s allegations come even as former chief minister and Marxist patriarch Jyoti Basu battles for life in the same hospital.

Coming out of the hospital where she had gone to see the 95-year-old leader, Ramola said the hospital could not realise the gravity of Chakraborty’s condition when he was admitted on July 27, 2009.

“At that time I did not realise that the hospital lacked proper infrastructure. Now, it is a cause of my discontent,” said Ramola and added, “The medical board was constituted three days after his death and only when we insisted on it.”

“My complaints are against the doctors. But they will say that he was a cancer patient,” she said and alleged that it took four days for the hospital to do a scan. “Pneumonia was detected after a scan on July 31,” she said. Chakraborty died on August 3.

Asked whether she had at the time wished to take her husband out of AMRI, she said, “I told them if you can’t do anything, release him.”

She, however, said she would not lodge any complaint nor go to Human Rights Commission. “What is the use now? I feel relieved to some extent after saying this,” she added.

She, however, said that her remark has nothing to do with the treatment that the hospital is currently offering to Basu. “I don’t see anything wrong with Basu’s treatment. I am talking only about the failure in Subhas Chakraborty’s treatment,” she added.

Asked on the timing of her allegations, she replied, “If I had said this after my husband’s death, the AMRI hospital would have been ransacked. I wanted to avoid it.”

Following her allegations, the management of the AMRI Hospital said that it they were ready to probe into it. “We are sending a message to Ramola Chakraborty through the media that if she has complaints she may send it to the hospital. We will investigate her allegations,” said Debasish Sharma, superintendent of the hospital.

“Subhas Chakraborty died despite our efforts to save him,” Sharma added.

Embarrassed by Ramola’s remarks, the CPM made no direct comment on it. A senior party leader said the issue was between Ramola and the hospital authorities the party had nothing to do with it.

Knowing that Ramola’s allegations could put a question mark on Basu’s treatment CPM Central Committee member Shyamal Chakraborty, said: “Ramola has not complained about Jyoti Basu’s treatment.”