Dogs used to occupy beds in Bihar govt hospitals before November 2005, says Nitish Kumar

PATNA: CM Nitish Kumar on Monday said dogs used to roam and occupy beds in government hospitals in Bihar before November 2005 when they (NDA) first came into power in the state.

Recalling an incident of 2004, CM said a dog jumped down from the hospital bed when he, as a local MP, went to see a journalist who was admitted at Sadar hospital, Biharsharif, in Nalanda district. Nitish was then a Lok Sabha member from Nalanda.

“As soon as I entered the room where journalist was admitted, a dog jumped down from another bed in the same room. Several other beds in the room were vacant as, in those days, people avoid visiting government hospital due to poor facilities of medicare. The journalist was admitted in the hospital by authorities as he was in judicial custody in those days. As many beds were vacant, one of them was occupied by a dog,” Nitish said while addressing a health department’s programme at ‘Samvad’ auditorium here.

He said, “These days, some people have developed a habit of uttering anything baseless against the present government, but they should recall the scenario in government hospitals before November 2005. They should recall how majority of beds used to remain unoccupied in government hospitals. But today, such a large number of people are preferring government hospitals that some of them are not been able to get beds.”

Nitish said, soon after coming into power, his government conducted a survey of government hospitals in February 2006. The survey revealed that only 39 patients had been visiting a primary health centre (PHC) per month in those days. “Taking it as challenge, we began to work for improving things in government hospitals. A scheme to provide necessary medicines free-of-the-cost was began in August 2006. We conducted a fresh survey of patients’ footfall at government hospitals in November 2006. The second survey revealed an average 1,500-2,000 patients began visiting a PHC per month,” CM said.

Courtesy: TNN