Patna: A city family on Friday alleged that they kept calling the 102 ambulance emergency service for one-and-half hours in vain.

The neighbours and family members of Sunil Kumar Shrivastava, 57, who suffered a paralytic attack, said they desperately tried to get through to the emergency number from Shrivastava's Boring Canal Road residence but nobody answered.

Finally, with precious minutes ticking away, they summoned a private ambulance service after which the patient was rushed to Tara Hospital near Golghar, around 2.5km away.

Shrivastava collapsed in the bathroom while taking a bath around 10 am.

His wife, Ranjeeta Shrivastava, rushed to the neighbour's house to seek help as her husband lay sprawled on the wet bathroom floor.

Nalin Kumar, who lives barely a few metres from Shrivastava's residence, came running to help and found that the man was unable to move or lift the left part of his body.

Ranjeeta started crying as neighbours managed to put Shrivastava on the bed.

Nalin said he started calling up the 102 ambulance service frantically from his mobile number.

He said he tried to call up the ambulance service for almost 90 minutes, but all his efforts proved futile.

"I tried calling up the 102 ambulance number but it kept ringing away and nobody took the call," Nalin told The Telegraph.

"As there was nobody at home and Shrivastava's wife was inconsolable, I had to take a decision as more delay could have done more damage. So I finally called up a private ambulance, which charged Rs 800 to take the patient to Tara Hospital," he added.

A doctor at Tara Hospital said had there been any further delay in bringing in Shrivastava, the patient would have lost his power of speech.

"However, the patient was brought to the hospital on time and treatment could be started early," said the doctor, who spoke under cover of anonymity.

Shrivastava's only child, Satyam, is a Class VIII student. Shirvastava's only source of income is from farming.

Shrivastava's wife, Ranjeeta, called the the 102 emergency ambulance service "useless".

State health minister Mangal Pandey had launched a new fleet of 65 basic life-support 102 service ambulances in November 2017.

The service charges a nominal fee, and it is completely free of charge for below poverty line families, senior citizens, accident victims and kala azarpatients.

Presently, there are 799 government-run basic life-support ambulances in the state run by the State Health Society, Bihar, which functions under the health department.

The service is outsourced through a memorandum of understanding signed between the state government and a consortium of Samman Foundation and Pashupatinath Distributors Private Limited.

Asked to comment on Friday's incident about the 102 call not being answered, principal health secretary Sanjay Kumar told The Telegraph: "Normally, it does not happen. But as you are telling me that the person tried calling up the 102 service for almost an hour-and-a-half, it seems that there must have been some technical fault. It must have been a false ring.

"However, we will definitely look into the matter and will try to resolve it," Sanjay added. "I will also request residents to complain to the health department about any such case so that we can take corrective measures."

'Not just 102'

Other residents said that the problem was not only limited to the 102 service. The 100 police helpline is just as bad, they insisted.

Recently, Patna High Court Chief Justice Rajendra Menon had said that his call to 100 had gone unanswered.

Zonal inspector-general of police Nayyar Hasnain Khan had written a letter to Patna senior superintendent of police Manu Maharaaj, expressing displeasure with the non-functioning of the Dial 100 service.