It is very common to see bureaucrats, politicians, businessmen or the rich people always ensure that their babies are delivered at private hospitals. However, Kaimur District Magistrate Sawan Kumar has set an example by getting his wife delivering the baby at a government hospital with an aim to give a message that government hospitals are also on par with the private hospitals.
On Tuesday, his wife Babli Anand delivered the baby boy at Kaimur Sadar Hospital in Bhabhua, the district headquarters under the supervision of Dr. Kiran Singh.
The baby was delivered through cesarean at 8:38 a.m. on Tuesday and the best part is that since beginning, his wife was getting treated at Sadar Hospital itself. According to the doctor who delivered the baby, both mother and child are healthy. After the surgery, the child was kept in the Special Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) and mother was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Both mother and child would be kept under observation for a few days.
While speaking to The Hindu over phone, Mr. Kumar said, “I did this to increase social deliveries and also to increase the confidence in the government hospitals. There are people who believe that only the private hospitals are good but I want to say that the same set of doctors do the same thing in private hospitals as well. People think that private hospitals have better facilities but I want to break this mindset and encourage the people to trust the government hospitals.”
He further said, “The Child Death Ratio (CDR) is also 2/1 which means that the Asha Workers who are supposed to create health awareness are not doing their job properly. So, I just want to make people aware that there is nothing extraordinary in the private hospitals and if a child of a District Magistrate can deliver in a government hospital, then why not others can do the same. The private hospital will pay ₹50,000 for the same thing but over here the government gives ₹1,400 for delivering babies in hospitals.”
After seeing his child at Sadar hospital, he went to Collectorate to perform his duty like any other normal days.
One of the biggest reasons people avoid visiting the government hospitals is that health workers do not reach on time and also due to lack of health facilities. One has to wait a long time in government hospitals apart from the cleanliness party.
Mr. Kumar already had a daughter when he was posted in Gaya three years back.
Time and again, questions are raised on the government hospitals of Bihar. In 2019, more than 100 children had died in one month in Muzaffarpur district of north Bihar allegedly due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES).
Health system of Bihar has always caught attention at national level when the picture of patients being taken to hospital on thela and rikshaw, sometimes holding in arm, has brought a bad name to the state after not getting ambulances on time.
According to a report table in the Bihar legislative assembly in 2022, there are only six beds in district hospitals for every one lakh population. Around 60% people do not get medicine free of cost in government hospitals and there are hardly any blood banks in the hospitals.
Several times Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has raised questions on Bihar health system whenever Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had gone to Delhi for the eye checkup.
