Somnath Roy’s mother Gouri was inconsolable at her Metiabruz home on Friday afternoon. “What did they do to my son? He was okay till last night and then in the morning he is gone forever.... Now what will happen to my grandson?” she wept. Picture by Amit Datta

A patient died gasping for breath at SSKM Hospital early on Friday because attendants refused to give him oxygen till they were paid a bribe of Rs 40.

The demand was made in the dead of the night over phone to Somnath Roy’s family members who pleaded with the attendants to first administer an oxygen mask to the asthma patient and collect Rs 40 first thing in the morning.

Their pleas fell on deaf ears — “Taka na pele amar handi chorbe na (If I don’t get the money, the job will not be done),” said an attendant — and the 40-year-old electrician died on Friday morning.

Late on Friday, two attendants — Adesh and Anil — were arrested. “The allegation of the family was death due to negligence and so the two have been arrested under Section 336 of the IPC (act endangering life or personal safety of others),” said an officer of Bhowanipore police station.

Somnath, a resident of Metiabruz, was admitted to the new emergency block of the only super-speciality state-run hospital in Bengal, early on Thursday. He was a chronic asthma patient for 12 years.

“From the time of admission, two attendants were constantly demanding money for every little thing. The nursing staff on duty were supporting them and they even berated us when we protested the constant demand for bribes,” said Sipra, Somnath’s wife.

Somnath Roy

The attendants were demanding Rs 40 every time oxygen had to be administered to the patient. By the end of the day, the family had paid them Rs 200 just to ensure that he could breathe easy.

When Sipra left Somnath around 9pm on Thursday, his condition was stable. But at 11pm, his condition deteriorated suddenly.

“Some other patients in the ward called us up and alerted us about his condition. We then called up one of the attendants, Adesh, and requested him to administer oxygen,” said Sanjoy Roy, Somnath’s younger brother.

“But he demanded Rs 40 to put on the oxygen mask. We told him it was late at night and so we could not reach the hospital at once but we promised to pay up early in the morning,” continued Sanjoy.

Around 6am, just when they were preparing to leave for the hospital, the Roys received a call informing them that Somnath’s condition was “extremely critical”.

By the time they reached SSKM around 7.30am, Somnath had lost his battle to breathe on bed No. 7.

“We saw him lying on the bed, clutching the bedsheet. The bottle of saline drip was empty and the tube was wrapped around his left arm,” said Sipra.

“The man was gasping for breath throughout the night. No attendant came to administer oxygen and when we requested a nurse on duty to do something, she asked us to mind our own business,” said a patient of the same ward on the condition of anonymity.

Somnath’s family members — his son Sourav is in Class IX — demanded an explanation from the authorities and the medical superintendent’s office was the point of protest till afternoon.

The Roys later lodged a complaint against the two attendants with Bhowanipore police station.

SSKM sources said the attendants were not part of the hospital’s group D staff. “They are related to some group D staff who live in the residential staff quarters on the hospital premises. They force the patient’s relatives to hire them as private attendants and exploit them,” said a doctor.

SSKM medical superintendent Ashok Ghosh said the hospital was conducting a separate probe. “We will find out whether any medical negligence was involved in the death. The guilty will not be spared,” said Ghosh.