Peg Therapy! Odisha Ambulance Driver On Way To Hospital Stops To Have A Drink, Offers To Patient

An ambulance driver in Odisha was caught on camera making a peg for himself and the patient in his vehicle.

An ambulance driver made a peg for himself and for the patient in his vehicle.

An ambulance driver in Odisha seems to have taken the idiom “drink your way to good health” a tad too seriously. On the way to hospital with a patient, this ambulance driver stopped to make a drink for the latter. As the patient takes a swig, the driver, poured one for himself as well. 

Videos of the bizarre incident are now doing the rounds of social media. 

The driver parked his vehicle on the side of a highway in Tirtol village of Jagatsinghpur in Odisha and made the pegs. As the patient lay with a plastered leg on a stretcher in the ambulance and sipped his drink, the driver did a ‘bottoms up’ in a swig.  

The incident came to the fore on Monday when videos shot by bystanders were being shared on social media. The driver claims in the video that the patient himself had asked for the drink. A woman and a child can also be seen in the ambulance. 

News agency PTI quoted Jagatsinghpur Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) Kshetrabasi Dash as saying, "Since it was a private ambulance, we don't have much to say. But the RTO and the police station concerned must take action against the erring driver."  

Residents of the area have now demanded strict action against the ambulance driver. However, inspector in-charge of the Tirtol police station Jugal Kishore Das an investigation will be launched only if a formal complaint is registered. 

 Section 185(b) of The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, though, stipulates a punishment of up to six months in prison, or with fine of up to Rs 2,000, or both, for the first offence. If a second offence is committed within three years of the commission of the previous similar offence, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine which may extend to Rs 3,000, or both.

(With