A 108 Ambulance was damaged and its staff were roughed up by an infuriated mob on Wednesday evening following the death of a 35-year-old woman, Sasmita, here. The mob also blocked the road near Kuruda causing traffic inconvenience.
The mob, including relatives of deceased Sasmita Behera of Tentulia village under Nilgiri block and a primary schoolteacher, alleged that the patient died as the cylinder in the ambulance ran out of oxygen.
The patient was admitted in the DHH with stomach ache complaints on Tuesday. As her condition deteriorated, she was being taken in an 108 Ambulance to the SCB Medical College Hospital, Cuttak on doctors’ advice. She died on the way, barely 3 km away from the DHH.
The relatives blamed lack of facility in the ambulance for Sasmita’s death and lodged a complaint with the Sadar police. Sadar PS IIC Chandan Ghadai said separate cases have registered against the ambulance staffs and the mob on complaints lodged by them.
Meanwhile, the Ambulance Cluster Head refuted the mob’s charge stating that the jumbo size oxygen cylinder malfunctioned because of defect in the knob. He was making an arrangement to replace the ambulance but the patient died before the initiation of action.
It may be noted that a lot of complaints pour daily against these ambulance services. Most of the complaints say ambulances don’t reach patients in time and are poorly equipped. Ambulance staffs also demand money from patients.
CDMO BS Pani said, “The patient was being shifted with cardiac problems. The relatives alleged that she died due to want of oxygen. The post mortem was conducted at the Nilgiri hospital and the report is awaited.”