Locals of Lunimathia village under Mahakalpada block in Kendrapada district on Saturday staged protest after a patient died allegedly due to delayed ambulance service.
Tension gripped the area as the protesters placed the body of the patient in front of the 108 Ambulance after its late arrival in the morning. The deceased was identified as Nakhia Mallick.
According to reports, Nakhia was suffering from tuberculosis for a long period of time. After his condition deteriorated on Friday, he was taken to the Ramnagar Primary Health Centre (PHC), where the doctor referred him to the Kendrapada District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) for treatment.
The family of the patient had called for an 108 Ambulance for carrying him to the DHH on Friday night. However, the untimely arrival of the ambulance reportedly claimed the patient’s life.
As the 108 Ambulance did not arrive in time at the Primary Health Centre, the patient died due to lack of treatment, the agitating villagers and family of the deceased alleged.
However, the staffs in the ambulance denied the allegation. “The patient’s family is claiming that they had called for an ambulance at around 2.00 am on Saturday. But it could not come. We received a call at 7.18 am and made start button on at 7.20 am. We reached the venue at 8.20 am, crossing around 35 km away from Babar. The villagers now stopped us on our way alleging untimely arrival of the ambulance at the patient’s house, said Bikarm Bisoi, a pharmacist of the 108 Ambulance.
The locals staged the protest by putting the body in front of the ambulance demanding compensation for the family of the deceased. On receiving information, police reached the spot and started a probe into the incident.