Krishnagar, Nov. 3: Ashis Das hurt his ankle while watching a Jagaddhatri idol immersion procession last evening.

His friends and relatives took him to the Shaktinagar district hospital and there the real pain began.

Around 6.30 pm, the doctor on duty, Sangeeta Roychoudhury, injected a pain killer and referred Ashis, 30, to an orthopaedic. But there was no sign of the specialist, Anupam Samanta, till 8.

Some of Ashis’s friends returned to Roychoudhury and said he was writhing in pain.

The doctor said she was busy. “I was examining a patient in the emergency when about 25 people demanded that I examine Ashis Das first. When I told them it was impossible as I was not a specialist, they refused to listen. They started abusing me and doctors in general. I tried to call Dr Samanta but could not get through,” she said today.

Roychoudhury called up the local police station, but no one was available there either as the entire force was apparently busy controlling immersion processions.

As the police did not come to her rescue, Roychoudhury was forced to treat Ashis, a trader. She prescribed an X-ray of his ankle.

His friends and relatives went to the X-ray room — which should be open 24 hours — and found it locked. “It was impossible to locate the technician,” said Ashis’s brother Debashis.

Nikhil Biswas, the technician, was busy watching processions.

When he was traced, Nikhil said the X-ray could not be done as he had left the key at home, a kilometre away.

“We were so angry that we could have beaten him up. But we thought Ashis needed attention first. A few of us dragged him to his home,” said Amlan Biswas, his friend.

Ashis’s ankle was X-rayed and a fracture was detected around 9 pm. The ankle had to be plastered but there was no one to do that. Roychoudhury again pleaded that she was not an orthopaedic.

Samanta arrived around 11 pm and, seeing him, Ashis’s companions burst in anger. He was beaten up and the ward-master’s office ransacked.

Samanta tried to plead with the mob that he was stuck because of the processions.

He found Ashis’s injury serious and referred him to Calcutta, about 85 km away.

The hospital superintendent, Nripati Roy, has ordered a probe.

Nadia chief medical officer Mrinal Kanti Biswas deplored the absence of the specialist doctor and X-ray technician. “They will be showcaused,” he said.