KATHMANDU, AUGUST 31

A man, who had fully recovered from coronavirus, suddenly vandalised an ambulance that was ferrying him home from hospital, fearing that he was being abducted.

The incident occurred last night at 10:00pm. The ambulance from Balambu-based Armed Police Force’s COVID special hospital was carrying the 24-year-old man to his home after his successful treatment. But on the way home, he suddenly behaved strangely and started vandalising the moving ambulance from inside.

The man is a resident of Bhaktapur Municipality.

Looking at the man’s violent behaviour, the ambulance driver had to stop the vehicle, but as soon as the vehicle stopped, the man broke the windowpane and jumped out of the ambulance. He did not stop here. He started vandalising the ambulance more fiercely.

DSP Chakra Raj Joshi of Jagati Police Circle said that the man approached them and sought help stating that he was being abducted by the driver of the ambulance.

Jhalak Kumar BC was driving the ambulance. According to police, the driver was a complete stranger to the man and he had no idea why the man behaved in a weird manner.

After some time police informed about the incident to the family members of the man. The family members said he had no mental health problems and he might have behaved in such manner due to the mental trauma he had to go through in the isolation ward after being infected with the virus. Police later handed the man over to his family members after they agreed to pay for damages done to the ambulance.

Psychiatrist Dr Sagun Panta at Tribhuvan University’s Teaching Hospital, Maharajgunj, said although it was difficult to say anything about the case without proper diagnosis, his violent activities might have been the result of panic attack.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on September 1, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.