BALASORE: An inmate of a quarantine centre in Balasore district died after being allegedly refused ambulance service on Wednesday night.He was identified as Bipin Bihari Mallick (23) of Jalada village within Khaira police limits. Bipin along with his brother Madhusudan Mallick had returned from Mumbai on May 29 and as per norms, were lodged at the temporary medical centre (TMC) set up on the premises of Jalada Nodal School.
Sources said on Wednesday evening, Bipin complained of severe chest pain. His brother, who was also staying in the TMC, immediately rang up 104 and 108 helpline numbers and requested for an ambulance to shift him to the local hospital. However, the persons who received the calls allegedly refused to send any ambulance to the TMC centre since it was a prohibited zone. Without any delay, Madhusudan arranged a bike and took Bipin to the community health centre (CHC) in Soro. However, Bipin died before his treatment could start.
Madhusudan alleged that the CHC doctor first refused to admit his brother in the hospital since he was staying in a quarantine centre. “The delay in providing treatment by the doctor caused my brother’s death,” he claimed.
However, doctor of Soro CHC Satyanarayan Nayak refuted the allegation. “Since the person was not affected by coronavirus, he was admitted to the CHC. The cause of his death was heart attack,” he said.
On being informed, Khaira police reached the CHC and started investigation. Bipin’s body was sent for postmortem. No police complaint was made by Bipin’s family members till reports last came in.