Valuables worth Rs 35,000 were stolen from the Eden Hospital Building of Medical College and Hospital late on Thursday, while the city was celebrating Saptami.

The building houses the gynaecology and obstetrics department.

Among the valuables stolen were a one-and-a-half-tonne window air-conditioner, 12 ft of copper oxygen pipeline and some plugs from the medical termination of pregnancy operating theatre (MTP OT).

“Our doctors detected the theft on Saturday and we immediately lodged a complaint with police,” said A.N. Biswas, the deputy medical superintendent of the hospital. “The building, a heritage structure, houses Asia’s oldest gynaecology and obstetrics department.”

The police said an organised gang was behind the theft. “The gang first broke the iron box around the AC machine on the ground floor, at the rear of the building. The machine was then wrenched off the wall and someone entered the building through the hole,” said a senior officer of Bowbazar police station.

Bowbazar police station and private guards are in charge of the hospital’s security.

“We have questioned several people but are yet to make any headway. It must have taken at least half an hour to wind up the operation, but there were no witnesses. No one has been arrested or detained,” the officer added.

There are 250 beds in the building and two OTs. Around 40 surgeries are performed daily in the OT where the theft took place.

“We are facing problems because of the theft. The second OT, which is already overburdened, is sharing some load of the MTP OT,” Biswas said.

“The PWD has assured us of reinstalling the AC at the earliest. The company that had installed the oxygen pipeline has been contacted,” he added.