Exemplary Performance, Says PM On Bihar Diwas, The Day When A Woman Operated Under Torchlight Died

A woman who was operated upon in torch light at a government hospital in Bihar’s Saharsa after she had an accident died on Thursday, the day when the state celebrating Bihar Diwas received a pat on the back from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for it “exemplary” performace.

She was admitted in Sadar Hospital on March 19. A video of the operation theatre where the woman was being given stitches had come out, spotlighting the ailing health sector in Bihar. The family said the administration and the government are responsible for her death but no complaint has been registered against the hospital yet.

Recently elected health minister of Bihar, Mangal Pandey is yet to give his reaction on this issue.

In the video, a family member was seen holding a torch light above the woman while the doctor was operating. Dissatisfied with the treatment the family moved her to the private hospital.

You can see the video here:

“We weren't satisfied with her treatment. So we admitted her in a private hospital. They kept saying she's fine and made us wait for two days. Suddenly they asked us to take her to Patna where they said she has broken bones and internal injuries. No case has been registered yet,” Omkar, a relative of the woman, told ANI.

It’s been 32 years since the late demographer Ashish Bose coined that famously disparaging phrase ‘Bimaru states’, in a one-page report to the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. The acronym for Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, which referenced the Hindi word for ‘sick’, would now be seen as a form of naming and shaming, done perhaps with the intention of prodding the guilty into trying to change.

But nothing seemed to have changed on ground.

Bihar is at the heart of the puzzle. It’s now one of India’s fastest growing states, mainly because of the low-base effect, a statistical phenomenon. If growth rates had been very low, even a small increase would arithmetically show up as a high figure.

The state posted the highest average growth rate during the whole of the 11th Plan period (ending 2011-12). Consider these peaks: 15.69 per cent in 2006-07 and 14.48 per cent in 2012-13. Bihar even topped all states in terms of growth of per capita incomes. Yet, the catch-up distance is the largest for Bihar. Adjusted for inflation, its net per capita income was the lowest (Rs 26,801 in 2015-16). UP came in just one spot above (at Rs 38,234). By comparison, Kerala was 365 per cent richer than Bihar.

It also has an effect on the spending power of the state, and state-run hospitals are emblematic of the cash crunch.

According to local newspaper Prabhat Khabar, Sadar hospital is beset by poor sanitation and extreme staff crunch so much so that the the patients have to help themselves. An accident was asked made to hold the saline bottle in one hand while his other hand was injured. When the patient tried to explain that he needs more attention and a bed, he was asked to go to the isolation ward.

With Agency Inputs