A Saudi national who fell ill on board a Qatar Airways flight and had to be admitted to hospital on Friday flew out on Saturday night after a daylong tug-of-war over who would pay his fare.

Al Solami Meadi Medkhill, 53, who was flying from Bangkok to Doha, complained of severe abdominal pain, prompting the pilot to make a priority landing in Calcutta. Doctors said a fragment of a kidney stone had entered his urethra.

He was taken to AMRI Hospitals, Salt Lake, where he refused to be treated and got himself released on a risk bond on Friday night. He went to the airport and demanded that the authorities put him on a flight for Jeddah or Doha.

Immigration officials planned to send him on an Emirates flight on Saturday evening. But he did not have a ticket and was not willing to buy one either. Qatar Airways, too, refused to issue him a fresh ticket.

“We contacted the Saudi embassy but they said they would not be able to provide him a ticket,” said Basab Talukdar, the foreigners’ regional registration officer in Calcutta.

After daylong negotiations, Qatar Airways agreed to provide a ticket to Medkhill on Emirates airline. But Emirates refused to fly him without a fit-to-fly certificate. The certificate was finally issued by the airport medical officer.

The flight, carrying 132 passengers, was delayed by half an hour because of this.