A 65-year-old man with Covid-19 symptoms died at the sub-divisional hospital in Bongaon in North 24-Parganas on Saturday night after he fell while trying to board an ambulance allegedly because the driver refused to lend a helping hand.

The ambulance driver was wearing personal protective equipment, which is expected to shield him against infection, but he did not step forward to help the patient board the vehicle, the elderly man’s wife alleged. The patient lay unattended for around 40 minutes till a doctor declared him dead.

Madhab Narayan Dutta was taken to the sub-divisional hospital around 5pm on Saturday as he was running a temperature and also suffering from shortness of breath. His wife Alpana accompanied him

Doctors admitted Dutta in the isolation ward but referred him to a SARI (severe acute respiratory illness) hospital in Barrackpore around three hours later because his breathing became heavy. Alpana was told about the decision and the hospital arranged for an ambulance.

Health department officials said Dutta, who ran a grocery in Bongaon’s New Market, had apparently fallen down while trying to board the ambulance outside the emergency ward. He lay on the ground for nearly 40 minutes till a doctor arrived and declared him dead, Alpana alleged.

“No one came to my help. He lay on the ground without oxygen,” she said on Sunday.

Witnesses said the ambulance remained parked just beside the body all the while. The driver, wearing PPE, stepped out after some time, while Alpana and her brother were covering Dutta with a bedsheet around 9pm.

“After the patient developed complications, doctors at the hospital had referred him to a SARI hospital in Barrackpore,” said a health department official.

Senior officials of the department said they had sought answers from the hospital superintendent on nine points, including why no doctor had accompanied the patient when he was being taken to the ambulance.

Repeated calls to hospital superintendent Sankar Prasad Mahato went unanswered.

“A probe has been started into a similar act of alleged negligence by an ambulance driver in Barasat, also in North 24-Parganas,” an official said.

The ambulance at the Bongaon hospital was part of a fleet of ambulances run by the government. One can call an ambulance from the fleet by dialling 102.

According to the standard operating procedure laid down by the Union health ministry, the ambulances that can be called by dialing 102 should be used for transporting pregnant women and sick infants, and not Covid-19 patients.

As for ambulances that can carry Covid patients, the SOP states: “Ambulance staff (technicians as well as drivers) should be trained and oriented about common signs and symptoms of COVID-19 (fever, cough and difficulty in breathing). They should also be aware about common infection, prevention and control practices including use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).”

A state health department official said a shortage of ambulances was forcing them to deploy the ones meant for non-Covid patients to transport Covid patients, too. “We are ensuring that before and after carrying each patient, the ambulances are sanitised. Also, the drivers are given PPE,” the official said.

Many ambulance drivers are refusing to come near suspected Covid-19 patients and lend a helping hand while they board or get off the vehicles.

While government ambulances don’t charge for the PPE sets of drivers and helpers, most private operators usually do. Relatives of a Covid-19 patient told Metro on Sunday that they had to pay the operator of a private ambulance Rs 9,200 to transfer him from a private hospital in Salt Lake to the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital.

“The operator charged Rs 8,000 as fare and Rs 1,200 for the PPE sets of the driver and his assistant,” a relative said.

Health department officials have learnt that an ambulance driver on Friday had allegedly dropped a patient on the road instead of his home. The patient, a resident of Habra in North 24-Parganas, was on his way home following his recovery from Covid at a private hospital in Barasat.

“The driver allegedly dropped the patient near Habra railway station. We have sought an explanation from the agency that provided the ambulance,” an official said.