Siwan civil surgeon bats for quacks, suspended

PATNA: Siwan civil surgeon Dr Ashesh Kumar was suspended for issuing an order asking his subordinates to engage ‘quacks’ to stem Covid-19 in the district, which has already reported five positive cases.
Confirming the disciplinary action, health department principal secretary Sanjay Kumar said on Thursday, “The letter issued by the civil surgeon has already been withdrawn. He has been put under suspension and departmental proceedings have been initiated against him.”
He admitted that the letter issued by the civil surgeon on March 31 had earned a bad name for the department.Another health department official, who didn't wish to be named, said, “It was an absurd decision.”
The letter issued on March 25, a copy of which is with TOI, asked the sadar hospital deputy superintendent, Siwan, sub-divisional hospital, Maharajganj and all medical incharge officers of PHCs to identify and train these medical practitioners to treat Covid-19. They were also asked to identify private hospitals and provide the names and their cell phone numbers under their jurisdiction.
When contacted, the suspended civil surgeon said, “The decision was taken at the district programme manager’s level. Since I was in a hurry, I signed the letter but couldn’t go through the content. Our motive was only to seek assistance of workforce at the village-level.”
He, however, also raised the issue of dearth of MBBS doctors in districts like Siwan.