BHOPAL: While the Kamal Nath-led Congress government is working on rendering the Right to Health to make quality and affordable health care available to all, the state government-run hospitals continue to be in news for the wrong reasons. A shocking case of a snake bite victim being treated by an ojha (exorcist) inside the District Hospital in Damoh of state’s Bundelkhand region has been reported. Imarti Devi (25) was admitted to the hospital for anti-venomous treatment on July 14.
She was on intravenous medications in the female ward, when her kin took her to the male ward where the exorcist performed rituals, including stripping her backside infront of her family and the relatives of patients in the male ward. Surprisingly, none of the staff in the hospital could spot the exorcist performing the rituals, despite the hospital being equipped with CCTV cameras.
The incident became public when the visuals of the exercise went viral on social media on Monday. The incident comes a few days after an old man under treatment at Civil Hospital in Sagar district of the region, was declared dead by on duty doctor and abandoned for an entire night till his autopsy in the morning.
When contacted, the Civil Surgeon at the hospital Dr Mamta Timori said, “Primary probe has revealed that neither the security guard and nor the on-duty doctor got to know about the incident. But the incident had come to the notice of the on-duty nurse, who didn’t inform the guard or the doctor. We’re issuing a notice to the nurse.”