Ambulance driver in Kolkata quizzed after dumping of body

KOLKATA: A 70-year-old man, a Garfa resident, was denied dignity in death on Monday evening after an ambulance driver attached to a south Kolkata hospital dumped his body in front of his house.
The man had died of Covid. The body lay unattended for close to four hours near the Garfa Girls’ School before locals informed police and the former local councillor stepped in to transfer the body to the MR Bangur hospital morgue.
Police have summoned the driver to record his statement. The couple’s son who lives in Bengaluru has come down to perform the last rites.
“On Friday we went to a private hospital at Panchasayar and got tested. The next day, we went to the same hospital where they stated that my husband was Covid positive. We asked them if he needed hospitalization but they refused stating all vital parameters are in check. His condition deteriorated on Sunday night. On Monday, I saw him sinking and took him to a hospital in Jadavpur. The doctor said that he had passed away and advised me to take him back home,” recalled the victim’s wife.
The woman claimed that the hospital arranged for an ambulance free of cost. “This probably irked the ambulance driver.”