A 48-year-old man, who was allegedly refused treatment at three government medical colleges in the city, passed away on Tuesday when the family again returned to the first hospital after spending nearly 24 hours looking for a bed.

Police sources said the family alleged they first went to SSKM Hospital where they were told that there was no vacant bed. They then went to Medical College Kolkata and NRS Medical College and Hospital and were allegedly turned away.

Sushil Haldar, a driver by profession, was bleeding from his nose and mouth when the family had taken him to SSKM.

A family member told a TV news channel that they had been trying to get Haldar admitted since Monday morning.

“My brother was not admitted anywhere, which is why he died today. We went to the chief minister’s office. They have helped as much as they could. My brother was not alive when we came back,” a man told ABP Ananda.

A woman was heard saying from the background that they would not have had to see this day if the man was admitted earlier. “We have been going from one place to another since yesterday morning. This would not have happened if he was admitted earlier. We came here thrice since yesterday morning,” the woman said.

The Telegraph reported on Tuesday how patients were turned away from several government medical colleges because there were no vacant beds to admit them. Earlier, some patients were also told that the hospitals did not have doctors to treat them at that moment.

A senior official of Medical College Kolkata said they enquired about the allegation but could not find any clues about the department where the patient was brought.

“This is indeed an unfortunate incident, but we have no documented record where the patient came or who told the family that the man cannot be treated here,” said the official.

A senior official at NRS Medical College and Hospital said he was not aware of this patient being turned away.

Calls to senior officials of the SSKM Hospital went unanswered on Tuesday.

The state government launched an online patient referral system on November 1 at five medical colleges in the city. The system promises to stop the harassment of patients going from one state-run hospital to another in search of vacant beds.

The five medical colleges where the online patient referral system has been launched are — SSKM Hospital, Medical College Kolkata, Calcutta National Medical College, RG Kar Medical College and NRS Medical College.

Hospitals from some south Bengal districts can refer patients to these medical colleges through the online system. Each of these medical colleges can also refer patients to one another through the system.

Earlier, a pilot project of the referral system, with MR Bangur Hospital as the destination healthcare facility, was rolled out on October 15.

The principal of one of the medical colleges told The Telegraph that though the system has been launched, it would take some more time to become fully functional.

This newspaper also reported on Tuesday that patients were still being referred by issuing referral cards with handwritten instructions and not through the online referral system. At least one referral card did not mention the name of a hospital that the patient was being referred to. A hand-written sentence at the bottom of the card said: “Referral to any tertiary care hospital for oncological evaluation”.

In the online system, a patient will be referred out of a hospital only if a vacant bed has been booked at another hospital. If a bed is not available, the patient must be treated at the first hospital till a vacant bed is found. The doctor who treats him or her at the first hospital also has to write a case summary of the patient, preliminary treatment given and investigations conducted, if any, before the patient was referred.

In the online system, the doctor has to clearly explain why the patient could not be treated in that facility.

The allegations made by Haldar’s family on Tuesday showed that either the system is not working or it is not being used properly by doctors at the hospitals.

The introduction of the online patient referral system was one of the demands of the protesting junior doctors who said the wrath of patient’s families fell on doctors as the families had to go from one hospital to another in search of a vacant bed. A centralised referral system will stop this harassment, they said.