BHOPAL: Viral videos showing a sweeper and sanitation staff member administering injections to male and female patients at a community health centre (CHC) in Madhya Pradesh’s Singrauli district have raised questions over the functioning of public health institutions in the state.
Two videos, reportedly from the Niwas Community Health Centre in the tribal-dominated area of eastern Madhya Pradesh’s Singrauli district, showed Ram Lakhan Saket, posted as a sweeper and sanitation staff member at the CHC, administering injections below the waistline to female and male patients in the facility’s injection room.
The injection room is located in front of the doctor’s room at the CHC.
According to Singrauli district’s Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) Dr Pushpraj Singh Thakur, “Show cause notices have been issued to Dr Keshav Singh and the on-duty nurse Gayatri Pardhi, over the sweeper administering injections to patients at the concerned CHC. Possibly, action has also been initiated against the sweeper, who for a long time has also been part of the process of autopsy of bodies.”
This is not the first time that Singrauli district has made headlines over the state of affairs at its public healthcare facilities.
In June this year, a viral video showed a security guard administering an intravenous (IV) drip and injections to patients at the Chitrangi Community Health Centre in Singrauli district.
Local residents and the person who recorded the video alleged that on-duty doctors and nursing staff were absent from their posts when the facility should have been fully operational.
The footage circulated widely on social media, drawing criticism over patient safety and alleged medical negligence. Local health authorities, including the Chief Medical and Health Officer, took cognisance of the clip and ordered a formal inquiry into the alleged operational lapses and staff absenteeism.
Elsewhere in Madhya Pradesh, in May 2026, a 19-month-old toddler in the Bundelkhand region’s Sagar district allegedly lost his eyesight after a doctor at a government hospital mistakenly administered nasal drops into his eyes instead of his nose at the Civil Hospital in Banda town.
The family claimed that the on-duty doctor accidentally put saline nasal drops or phlegm medication directly into the infant’s eyes. The child was suffering from cough and cold and redness in the eyes. A police complaint was registered, and local health authorities formed an inquiry committee to investigate the allegations of medical negligence.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), taking suo motu cognisance of the matter, asked the state government for a detailed report. A local medical inquiry committee later suggested that severe malnutrition and vitamin A deficiency had also contributed to the vision issues, though the family maintained their original negligence claims.
In July 2025, a serious diagnostic lapse was reported at the District Hospital in eastern Madhya Pradesh’s Satna, where doctors had reportedly told a pregnant woman that her unborn child had died after they could not detect a heartbeat through Doppler and sonography. She was advised to undergo an abortion.
The woman declined and sought a second opinion at a private facility, where the foetus was reportedly found to be alive and healthy. The case raised concerns about the accuracy of diagnosis and the adequacy of verification before recommending an irreversible medical procedure. Although no death occurred, an incorrect diagnosis at the government hospital could potentially have resulted in the unnecessary termination of a viable pregnancy.
