Boy fractures left hand, Bihar doctors apply cast on right
Minister orders probe and promises stern action against doctors
Patna: A government hospital in Bihar has come under fire after doctors applied a cast on the wrong hand instead of the fractured left limb.
As per reports, Faizan, a resident of Hanuman Nagar locality in Darbhanga district, fell from a mango tree a few days ago and the x-ray test showed that he had fractured his left hand.
Subsequently, he was rushed to the local Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) for treatment but much to his shock, the doctors applied plaster on his right hand instead of his fractured left limb.
“I tried telling him while they were giving the treatment but they didn’t listen to me and put the plaster on the wrong hand,” Faizan told the media on Wednesday.
His family members have described it as a gross negligence and demanded stern action against the guilty doctors.
Bihar health minister Mangal Pandey has ordered an investigation into the matter and promised stern action against the doctors after the probe report comes.
I tried telling him while they were giving the treatment but they didn’t listen to me and put the plaster on the wrong hand.
“The health minister has ordered an investigation and sought clarification from the team of doctors who treated the child,” DMCH superintendent Raj Ranjan Prasad told the media today adding erring doctors would be punished.
The fresh incident of medical negligence comes amid suspected encephalitis claiming the lives of more than 170 children in the past 20 days and the state government facing the blame for not doing enough to prevent outbreak of this disease although it had been occurring every year.
The Supreme Court on Monday directed both the centre and the state government to submit their responses within a week to the encephalitis which broke out in Bihar claiming scores of lives. The governments have been told to file an affidavit giving details of facilities regarding public health, nutrition and sanitation to treat children suffering from Acute Encephalitis Syndrome.
Apart from this, a local court in Bihar has ordered an investigation into the alleged case of negligence shown by two health officials — Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan and State Health Minister Mangal Pandey — in the death of children from suspected encephalitis.
Suryakant Tiwari, the chief judicial magistrate at Muzaffarpur, has asked the additional chief judicial magistrate to investigate the case acting on a petition filed against the health ministers by a local social activist Tamanna Hashmi.
In the complaint petition filed in the CJM court on June 17, Hashmi had alleged both the ministers shirked form the responsibility of creating an awareness campaign in the region and sensitise the masses in the affected areas despite the fact that the disease has been routinely striking every year.