Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi meets an injured after the stampede in Patna on October 3 (Press Trust of India photo)
Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi is very angry after a visit to the Patna hospital where those injured in the Dussehra stampede on Friday evening are being treated. The chief minister reached the hospital to find doctors missing, dirty bedsheets and poorly maintained bathrooms.
He has described conditions in Patna's leading government hospital as "unsatisfactory" and said "we will discuss this and take action tomorrow."
33 people died and 28 were injured in the stampede at the Gandhi Maidan on Friday evening soon after Dussehra celebrations. The injured were taken to the Patna Medical College and Hospital or PMCH, and the Chief Minister was visiting them on Sunday.
"People were not on duty. The doctors were out. I talked to the stampede victims and other patients also. Eighty per cent of the prescribed medicines were unavailable. They were being bought from outside," a shocked Mr Manjhi told reporters after his visit.
The chief minister visited the surgical, urology and orthopaedic wards and noted that there were patients who had been there for 45 days but doctors had not begun treating them yet. He said doctors did not make regular rounds of the wards and seldom checked on patients.
When Mr Manjhi asked to meet the hospital superintendent Lakhinder Prasad, he was told that the latter was not available. "Rules are not being followed. Bed sheets are changed once a month or at times after 15 days or a week. I went to the bathroom and saw that it was very dirty with no water available... The superintendent was summoned but he did not come, said Mr Manjhi.