The incident was brought to the notice of the authorities in the morning, who have promised a probe into the matter. The instance of medical negligence came after yesterday’s incidents at the R N Tagore Cardiac Research Centre and the M R Bangur hospital, where patients had died due to alleged medical negligence.

Professor Ashok Kumar Ghosh, Superintendent of the SSKM Hospital said, “This is an unfortunate incident. Our hospital diet is prepared by a private party. I will take up the matter with them.” The authorities also inspected the kitchen and its quality standards after the incident.

Shibu Dutta, a resident of Howrah, was admitted to the hospital on July 22. Last night, when the hospital staff had served him the diet, he noticed a decomposed snail in vegetable curry. Dutta’s brother, who was with him, took the meal to nurses but no one responded.

“The food had a foul smell. I immediately approached nurses and ward boys but they refused to give us another meal,” said Sanjay Dutta, the patient’s brother.