Real-Life 'Munna Bhai' Seen Stitching Patient At Bihar Government Hospital

If you have seen the Bollywood movie 'Munna Bhai MBBS', you will remember it as a light-hearted comedy film in which Munna Bhai, a don in the Mumbai underworld, pretends to be a doctor to please his father. On screen, it was harmless fiction meant to make audiences laugh.

In Bihar's Bagaha town of West Champaran district, however, a similar scene has played out in real life, inside a government hospital. Here a security guard was seen stitching the wounds of a patient not for 'fun', but to fill in doctor shortage.

A viral video from the Bagaha Sub-divisional Hospital has shown a security guard stitching the wounds of an injured patient inside the minor operation theatre. 

The video, widely circulated on social media, shows the minor operation theatre of the hospital. Instead of trained doctors or nurses, a security guard is seen applying stitches to a patient's wounds.

As per rules, entry into an operation theatre is strictly limited to trained doctors and nursing staff. The presence of a guard performing a medical procedure has raised concerns about safety of the patients.

Accident Victims Brought For Treatment

According to the information, the injured patients were brought to the hospital after a road accident, where a tempo and a pickup van collided head-on. The collision was severe. The pickup vehicle overturned on the road, leaving its driver and several others injured. The tempo driver reportedly fled the scene after the accident.

With the help of local residents, the injured were rushed to the Bagaha sub-divisional hospital for treatment. It was during this rush of emergency cases that the now-viral incident occurred inside the hospital.

The injured pickup driver Wasim Akhtar and another victim Surendra Pasi later claimed that a security guard stitched their wounds.

They said doctors were present in the hospital at the time, but due to a shortage of staff, the guard ended up performing the procedure. The injured men described the incident as gross negligence, saying treatment by an untrained person could have cost them their lives.

Hospital Cites Long-Standing Staff Shortage

After the video sparked outrage, the hospital administration issued a clarification. Deputy Superintendent Dr Ashok Kumar Tiwari said the hospital has been facing a shortage of staff for a long time.

He said posts of operation theatre assistants and dressers have remained vacant, forcing the hospital to function with limited manpower. According to him, the hospital has been managing most cases with the help of General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM) staff.

On the day of the incident, he said, around half a dozen seriously injured patients arrived at the hospital at the same time. Seeing that one patient was bleeding heavily, help from the security guard was taken under a doctor's supervision, he added.

A Grim Reminder of Bihar's Healthcare Reality

While the hospital's explanation points to staff shortage, the incident raises questions about Bihar's healthcare system. According to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Audit Report on Public Health Infrastructure and Management of Health Services (2016-2022):

• Bihar recorded a 49% vacancy in key health departments, including the Directorate of Health Services, the State Drug Controller, the Food Safety Wing, AYUSH, and Medical Colleges and Hospitals (MCHs).
• The report noted that against the World Health Organization (WHO) norm of one allopathic doctor per 1,000 people, Bihar had a ratio of one doctor for every 2,148 people, with 58,144 doctors available as against a requirement of 1,24,919.
• It also highlighted significant shortages among healthcare staff. The shortfall of staff nurses ranged from 18% in Patna to 72% in Purnea, while paramedic vacancies varied from 45% in Jamui to as high as 90% in East Champaran.
• As of January 2022, recruitment remained pending for 13,340 healthcare posts out of a total of 24,496 sanctioned positions, the report said.

(With inputs from Bindeshwar Kumar)