Bihar: Emergency services take a hit for four hours at Bettiah hospital

BETTIAH: That the system itself has now begun wilting with Coronavirus groans became evident as emergency services remained unmanned for over four hours on Tuesday morning at Bettiah’s Government Medical College & Hospital (GMCH) in West Champaran. Eyewitnesses spoke of hapless patients and kin moaning desperately amid chaos and consternation.
Mani Mishra, who had carried his Covid critical father Shambhu Mishra from Bharwalia near Motihari, was seen frantically pleading for help.A ward boy found the patient’s oxygen saturation level dipped to 57. But there was no doctor on emergency duty.
Mishra died before emergency services could be restored. He became one the four casualties at the GMCH on Tuesday. With another 10 patients dying on Wednesday, the death toll has so far mounted to 64 in the last 17 days. Meanwhile, with 719 fresh cases detected by Wednesday, the number of active cases in the district has risen to 3749.
Shaukat Ali, an IAF techie from the Bihta airbase, had brought both his parents -- his mother on a wheelchair -- with severe Covid symptoms. He too met gloom as no doctor could be found.
Ram Suchit Chowdhary from Sathi Hichopal village, physically challenged with an amputated leg, had been referred from the Narkatiaganj sub-divisional hospital on Monday night. “Had we known (that there would be no doctors), I would have kept him to fate at Narkatiaganj itself,” his son Harendra Prasad told reporters at the GMCH.
Shivering with Covid-like symptoms, Yamuna Sharma was carried to this hospital by his wife and daughter from Chuhari village early morning. The 65-year-old died even before he could be tested. “Our medical fraternity is under extreme pressure,” hospital superintendent Pramod K Tiwary said, citing the rising number of patients and deaths that had compelled the hospital administration to marshal limited resources with practical ingenuity.