GROUND REALITIES BELIED TALL CLAIMS OF GOVERNMENT

GROUND REALITIES BELIED TALL CLAIMS OF GOVERNMENT

9-NOV-ENG 2

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

ARA--------------------------An 80-year-old patient, upon being discharged from the hospital, was seen being transported by his family on a handcart instead of an ambulance. It is alleged that the family requested an ambulance, but due to a lack of available resources, they were forced to resort to using a handcart.

The incident took place at the Ara Sadar Hospital in Bhojpur district, where, on Friday, the family of an elderly patient faced such significant hardship that the resulting scene has now cast doubt on the entire healthcare system.

Vishnu Shankar Sah, an 80-year-old resident of Charkhambha Gali in the Nagar Thana area, had fallen in the bathroom of his rented home. He sustained a head injury and a fractured leg in the accident. His family brought him to the Ara Sadar Hospital for treatment. He was accompanied by his elderly wife, Meera Devi, and his son-in-law, Kanhaiya Prasad. While he did receive medical treatment at the hospital, the family alleges that despite their requests to the hospital administration for an ambulance to take him home, no such facility was provided.

Ultimately, the helpless family had to pay 500 rupees to hire a handcart, upon which they were forced to lay the elderly Vishnu Shankar Sah and transport him home. At an age when an elderly person is in the greatest need of proper care and medical facilities, having to rely on a handcart to get home from a hospital inevitably raises serious questions.

According to his family, Vishnu Shankar Sah has been involved in social work; he is associated with the BJP and the Sangh, and is also said to be a member of an organization that cares for the destitute. However, regardless of an individual's social or political background, the core question remains: why was an elderly patient unable to access even basic healthcare-related support? On one hand, grand claims are made regarding improved healthcare systems and the provision of facilities for patients in Bihar; on the other, this image from Ara Sadar Hospital raises questions about the ground reality of those claims. The hospital management’s perspective on this entire matter is yet to be presented.

Ensuring that a patient reaches home after receiving treatment is also a crucial part of the healthcare system's responsibility.