MONTEGO BAY, St James — MBJ Limited, operator of Sangster International Airport (SIA) in Montego Bay, has strongly rejected reports that there was a request for payment before an ambulance was dispatched for a 71-year-old male passenger in medical distress inside the departure terminal last week.

“Totally false! We have seen the reports and we just had a meeting to discuss the matter. We will be seeking to clarify that because there is no truth to that,” MBJ’s Commercial Business Development and Marketing Manager Sharon Hislop-Holt told the Jamaica Observer on Monday.

In a video that went viral late last week, a woman said she saw a man, later identified as Jamaican Leroy Smith, die as he waited for medical aid. She also said a man, who she assumed — because of the vest he wore — was affiliated with the airport was the one who mentioned payment. She said the man told her and others trying to help Smith that protocol dictated that Smith’s relatives agree to pay a US$400 fee before a private ambulance was dispatched. The woman who made the video also said the man in the vest indicated that no ambulance was available at the State-run Cornwall Regional Hospital. She was very detailed in her account and at times tears ran down her cheeks as she spoke into her phone.

The elderly man’s disturbing death reportedly took place last Wednesday.

On Monday the MBJ’s Hislop-Holt insisted that there is a protocol in place to deal with medical emergencies and it does not involve a cost being incurred by those in need of care.

“We have an agreement with Hospiten to provide ambulance service and that is the hospital that responded,” she said. “Hospiten is the one that came and there is no arrangement about any US$400.”

Hislop-Holt said the protocol also includes notification of State-run facilities.

“The entire protocol was followed and there is nothing about any charge for ambulance when there is a medical emergency. It’s just that we have to contact the public institutions also. It’s not that you have to call one before the other,” she told the Observer.

The MBJ executive, who expressed condolence to Smith’s friends and family, insisted that MBJ would never treat anyone the way the video portrayed. She also took issue with reports that 20 to 30 minutes had passed before a nurse came to provide Smith with medical care.

“That is not so, but that is [one] of the things that we are just confirming and the follow-up will clarify those things,” she said.

Transport Minister Daryl Vaz has given MBJ a Wednesday deadline to provide him with a detailed report of the incident, one that includes videos with time stamps so he can get a clear picture of what happened and when. In preliminary comments on the issue Vaz said sometimes, in emergency situations, the time that has elapsed may appear longer than it actually is. He has also made it clear that if MBJ’s actions are found wanting, he will not shy away from acting.

On Monday, Hislop-Holt was confident the MBJ team followed the rules when providing care to Smith.

“We have to be up to what is required by regulations, which we are,” she said.

Efforts to get a comment from the privately run Hospiten, located 8.5 km from the airport, were futile Monday as the Observer was told the only individual who could provide a response was not in office.