Corona in Bihar: This is the lowest test in the country; CM ordered to do 20 thousand tests daily, but the system is getting just 10 thousand

Posted on 30th Jul 2020 by rohit kumar

March 22, 1912, is the important date in history on which Bihar was born as a state. Between 1911 and 1920, about four lakh people died of plague in this state, a year before they broke away from the Bengal Presidency and became a state. At the same time, in 1909-10, almost all the districts of Bihar were hit by malaria. People were dying of cholera in Muzaffarpur. The plague had become epidemic in Patna, Shahabad, Saran, Hajipur, and Munger.

 

Around twenty thousand people died in Saran and around four and a half thousand people in Munger, but the worst happened in 1918. This year a Spanish flu spread throughout the world. Then Bihar, already struggling with a thousand difficulties, also came into its grip and in less than six months 6 lakh people were killed. Today once again the whole world is battling an unknown virus and disease. Once again Bihar is in the grip of this virus and day by day it is moving towards a bigger tragedy.

 

The first case of corona in Bihar was reported on 22 March and on July 25, the maximum number of 2803 new corona infected patients was found in a single day. Currently, the number of corona infections in the state has increased to 45919. At the same time, 14 corona-infected patients in the state have died during treatment. This is the situation when the state has the lowest number of tests against the country.

 

It is reported that even after the Chief Minister ordered twenty thousand tests every day, Bihar's system can do ten thousand tests every day after putting a lot of emphasis. Due to this, it is still not clear how many Corona patients are in the state and how big is the crisis.

 

Now let's take a look at the government health system available in the state, which itself has been admitted in the ICU for the last several years. The biggest irony is that with the help of this ill system, Bihar is combating unknown and dangerous viruses like Corona.

 

What are the statistics?

 

There are a total of 6261 posts of permanent doctors in Bihar but currently, only 3821 doctors are reinstated and 2440 posts are vacant. In Bihar, there are a total of 2314 contractual posts of doctors but currently, only 531 doctors are reinstated. Of the total 8575 posts of both, 50 percent of posts are vacant. There are only 4 doctors and 2 nurses for every one lakh population of Bihar, which is the lowest in the country.

 

In Bihar, there are a total of 5331 posts of permanent and contractual nurses, out of which only 2302 nurses are reinstated and the remaining 3029 posts are vacant. There is a vacancy of about 57 percent. This condition is in the last 15 years. There are only 4352 government doctors in Bihar with a population of 12.5 crores and this is the reason that every year in Bihar, a hundred and two hundred people die due to chilly fever, heatstroke, and choking (celestial lightning).

 

What can be done now? To know the answer to these questions, we connected with the George Institute of Global Health as Senior Research Fellow and contacted Dr. Vikas Kesari, who is from Bihar. According to Doctor Vikas, Bihar today has very limited routes.

 

He says, "It is clear that when the cases of corona are low in many states of the country, then the outbreak of this virus will remain at the peak in Bihar. There is a crisis on Bihar from all sides. The economic situation is bad. Literacy and awareness levels are also low. The flood crisis is different. All these are going to create a big crisis for Bihar in the coming days. ”

 

Dr. Vikas Kesari, taking forward his point, says, “The Bihar government needs to ask for help. As quickly as possible. At the same time, the central government will have to do some radicals in Bihar. For example, experts from across the country should be sent there. At least two to three hundred full oxygen beds should be prepared in the five major hospitals of the state. After this, the entire health system of the state should be handed over to expert doctors. "

 

Doctor Vikas Kesari says so much in this conversation that if all this is not done with time, then the coming days are going to be very difficult for Bihar. It is also not that experts like Dr. Vikas Kesari are pointing towards these things alone.

 

On July 19, a special team of the Union Health Ministry arrived to investigate the growing corona cases in Bihar. In the suggestions given by this team, it has been said that the state government will have to change the way of testing. The team said that emphasis should be on tracking, testing, and treatment. On July 19, the team said the same thing that has been said since the first day of the outbreak of Corona.

 

Not only this, in the meantime, on 27 July, the Bihar government replaced the Principal Secretary of Health Department for the second time. During the Corona crisis, the government assigned senior IAS officer Supriya Amrit as Principal Secretary in the Health Department.

 

The difficulties in the coming days are still being known. The health system of Bihar has deteriorated already. Even after the Chief Minister's order, twenty thousand tests are not being conducted in the state every day. Every day, videos are coming out of some big hospital in the state of dislocation, lack of resources, and the heart-wrenching cry of a crying family.

 

The question arises that Nitish Kumar, who got the post of Chief Minister after seeing the slogan of 'Bihar is Bahar…', will see the tough BJP and state Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi coming to the fore to conduct elections in times of epidemic? Will understand and take the necessary steps in time?

 

Corona spread and responsible in Bihar

Corona spread in the state as it spread across the world. From one person to another. People from abroad first brought corona to the state and then during the lockdown, when the workers entered the state by special trains, walking and cycling, the cases of corona started picking up. In March and April, state government doctors, nurses, and other medical staff were demanding PPE kits from the government for their safety. The state government was seeking PPE kits from the central government.

 

On April 2, Bihar's Nitish Kumar said that the Bihar government has demanded five lakh PPE kits, whereas only four thousand kits have been provided to it. 10 lakh N-95 masks were demanded but the Center gave only 50,000. One million si ply masks were demanded and so far only one lakh has been received. 10,000 RNA extraction kits have been sought and only 250 have been received so far.

 

This means that when the corona patients were increasing due to different reasons in the state, the state government was struggling with a lack of resources and seeking help from the central government. Now look at some figures. According to Bihar's Disaster Management Department, as of 29 April, the state had received around 70,000 migrants.

 

A total of 6,043 Tests were held in the state between April 30 and May 3. That is, around 1500 tests were being done every day. Not only this, between May 4 to May 8, only 2,316 samples were tested, ie, in these four days, only 579 tests were done every day.