Madhepura: “Doctor sahab aa jata to turant humko jaan bach pata. llaaj nahin ho raha hai. Doctor sahab hamra kam se kam rahat kari (If the doctor checks me, I could be saved. I am not receiving treatment. Some doctor should at least try to save me).”
As he lay in a bed at the Jan Nayak Karpoori Thakur Medical College and Hospital (JNKTMCH), one of Bihar’s biggest state-funded hospitals, Laxami Ram, a 45-year-old government school teacher suffering from Covid-19, was distraught. He came to the Madhepura hospital, built at a cost of Rs 800 crore and inaugurated by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar last March, from bordering Saharsa district on 12 May.
Speaking to ThePrint, Laxami Ram — surrounded by four family members rubbing his body in the hopes of improving his oxygen circulation — said he had renounced all hope of survival.
The JNKTMCH, named after a former Bihar chief minister, was launched as part of the Nitish government’s promise to strengthen the state’s healthcare to a level where residents don’t feel the need to travel elsewhere for treatment.
In the first Covid wave, the JNKTMCH served as a dedicated Covid facility.
According to the district administration, JNKTMCH has 102 beds with oxygen support and 50 pulse oximeters, along with 19 ventilators and 19 ICU beds.
The hospital serves as a lifeline to seven adjoining big districts that together comprise the Kosi-Seemanchal region, to the state’s north-east. Amid the rural landscape, its tall buildings, big campus with tight security offer a source of hope. On 12 May, 83 of the hospital’s oxygen beds were occupied.
However, patients on the third and fourth floors of the hospital — where the moderate and critical Covid patients are treated, respectively — speak of being neglected by staff.
When ThePrint visited, attendants of patients on the fourth floor said they had been left unattended for hours, despite repeated calls for assistance. A nurse called to help a breathless mother didn’t turn up at the ward for at least an hour.
The hospital denies these allegations. While they acknowledge that infections among staff have shaken hospital employees, officials deny patients are left to their own devices. A similarly emphatic denial comes from the district administration.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, however, hospital staff backed the patients’ account.
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‘Have been calling nurses for hours’
On the fourth floor, many attendants waited by patients, trying to feed them, as well as massaging them.
As a woman lay gasping, her son said she was on the verge of death.
“See her condition. I have been calling the nurses for hours now. They don’t check the patient at all,” he added, rubbing his mother’s back in the hope it would help her breathe.
With this reporter on his trail, he then walked to the doctor’s ward, where he pleaded with a nurse with folded hands. “Nurse, unko akhiri saans chal raha hai, ek baar chal kar dekh lijiye na (Nurse, she is on her last breath, please see her once).”
The nurse said she would visit and began to wear the PPE kit. This reporter was outside the Covid ward for an hour, but the nurse never came.
At one point, the young man tried to shake his mother, attempting to wake her up. “Itna bada hospital kyon banwaya hai? Ventilator hai, ICU hai, bed hai, Oxygen hai. Fir bhi maa mar rahi hai (Why build such a big hospital? It has ventilators, ICUs, beds, oxygen. But my mother is still dying).
According to the district administration, the hospital records 4-5 Covid deaths every day.
Speaking to ThePrint, the newly appointed medical superintendent, Baidyanath Thakur, said staff has been demoralised because of infections among healthcare workers at the hospital. “But it is not the case that nurses are not going to the wards,” he added.
District Magistrate Shyam Bihari Meena, who inspected the hospital on 11 May, denied the charge as well.
“I personally have the details of each and every patient admitted there. From their SPO2 levels to their temperature. In fact, I have deployed three state administration officials in three shifts there. Apart from that, I have also attached an ADM (additional district magistrate) to the hospital,” he added.
On the condition of anonymity, a nurse offered a different account. “There is a fear of Covid. No one wants to visit the Covid ward and die. We cannot spend whole day inside the ward.”
Some families at the hospital added that they are “shooed away” by staff at the facility whenever the DM comes for inspection.
‘Mar rahe hain’
The hospital has 19 ventilators, but only four were in use when ThePrint visited. Asked why, Medical Superintendent Baidyanath Thakur made light of the issue, saying the ventilators could only be put to use if they had patients who required them.
However, a nurse who didn’t wish to be identified said they didn’t have enough staff to work the machines.
Meanwhile, Laxami Narayan, struggling to speak with an oxygen mask on, said he was dying. “Mar rahe hain, koi ilaj nhin ho paaya (I am dying, I haven’t been treated),” he added.
His son said they were sure the “big hospital would be able to help us but his condition has worsened after coming here”.
“Doctor sahab aate nahin hai, unko marne ka dar hai. Bahar se hi likh ke dete hain (Doctor sir doesn’t come inside, he is scared of dying. He remains outside).”
“We are helpless even with each and every machine, medicine available here,” he added. “Everyday, we see 4 to 5 deaths here.”
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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