Siwan’s Civil Surgeon Calls ‘Quacks’ for COVID-19, Suspended

“Our aim was to seek help from the healthcare workforce available at the village level,” Kumar said.

Representational image.

(Photo: PTI)

Siwan Civil Surgeon Ashesh Kumar has been suspended for ordering to identify, train and deploy unqualified and unregistered doctors, commonly regarded as quacks, to help tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

On 31 March, The Quint had reported about the letter written by the civil surgeon, after which action was taken against the civil surgeon.

Bihar's Principal Secretary Health Department Sanjay Kumar informed about the suspension.

“The letter has been withdrawn and the civil surgeon has been suspended for disciplinary proceedings.”

Sanjay Kumar, Principle Secretary, Health Department

Civil Surgeon of District Health Committee, Siwan Ashesh Kumar wrote a letter on 25 March to deputy superintendent of Sadar Hospital, Siwan, Sub-Divisional Hospital, Maharajganj and all medical in charge officers of PHC directing them to identify and train these practitioners to treat COVID-19.

(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)

The letter’s subject reads: “To identify private hospitals as well as quack doctors in their area so as to take services from them”. The letter, written in light of the coronavirus outbreak, further sought the name and phone number of these practitioners.

When the districts' Civil Surgeon Dr. Ashesh Kumar was asked the reason behind the idea of deploying quacks to combat a pandemic like Coronavirus, he quipped, “How many MBBS doctors are there in this country?"

Citing the dearth of qualified medical professionals, he said,

“MBBS (doctors) are not even available in big cities, how will you find an MBBS doctor in the village? People here in the village have no other option but to go to quacks. Therefore in a situation like this, they will prove to be of help.”

He added that neither the Centre nor the state government has taken any action against these practitioners.

Kumar, however, said the decision had been taken at a district programme manager level and since he’s signed the letter in haste, he didn’t see they’d called on these practitioners for medical assistance. “Our aim was to seek help from the healthcare workforce available at the village level,” he said.

When the matter escalated, Kumar offered to withdraw the order but asked about the letter and how it had reached Delhi. While speaking to The Quint, he agreed to reconsider the matter raised in the letter.

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Former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav, who is in jail, expressed concern via his Twitter account, which is handled by his office.

As per government data, in Bihar so far, 23 positive coronavirus cases have been reported, one of which is from Siwan. The patient, a 22-year-old, has been sent to Patna’s PMCH. 13 family members who were in contact with the infected person are in isolation.

(The story was first published on Quint Hindi.)