A hospital crisis in Maharashtra surfaced ahead of the state budget when footage from the campus of Bibi Rural Hospital in Buldhana showed hundreds of patients receiving care on the street outside the hospital.
According to hospital staff, two patients—a 50-year-old lady with asthma and a male in his mid-30s—were directed to Jalna, which is 50 km away, for specialised care out of the 200 patients who were discharged. A big medical emergency arose after over 500 villagers staying in Somthana and Khaperkheda consumed prasad at a religious gathering, leaving them dependent on the only hospital in the area.
Pratap Shinde, a resident of Somthana, said that ambulances needed to be called, but no one was willing to listen to them. Assistance didn't arrive until they told the MLAs that an enormous number of people from these two regions would die. 15 members of Pratap Shinde’s family had fallen sick.
Patients getting treatment for food poisoning in Buldhana, Maharashtra. pic.twitter.com/RnwR0oWrKS
— Sachin (@Sachin54620442) February 22, 2024
Dadarao Snighade, a resident of Khaperkheda, was initially brought by his family to a government hospital in Sultanpur, which is roughly 12 kilometres from his residence. He said that the hospital was closed. He could not stop throwing up. After that, they hurried over to Bibi. It was around 10:30 pm when he reached there. He saw that patients were forced to lie on the road since there were no beds available. A rope was used to hang saline. There was one doctor and one nurse; others were private doctors, he said.
Health experts said that when comparing the health budget to the total budget, Maharashtra's performance is dismal. According to the national health policy, each state should set aside 8% of its budget for health; larger states like Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh spend 6%–7%, while Meghalaya and Goa spend more than 8%. Maharashtra now has the lowest public health budget among the 28 states, at 4.1% of total expenditure.
Homoeopath Vijay Bangale said that such a large group of people at once is not intended for the hospital to handle. It was designed to serve no more than thirty patients at a time. Three MBBS doctors can be reached, but last night none of them were available. Only 12 patients had arrived by 9 p.m., but ambulances began to arrive one by one, bringing a sizable crowd and quickly increasing the number to 150, he said.
Regarding the circumstance of giving saline solution from bottles strung on ropes to patients who became ill after eating prasad at a religious function earlier this week, the Bombay High Court demanded an affidavit from the state government during the hearing on February 23.
Jan Swasthya Abhiyan urged Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to double the public health budget, fill open positions in government hospitals, and uphold patient rights in private hospitals in 1,300 postcards addressed earlier this month. The district collector stated that samples of food from the temple had been sent to the lab for additional testing; the results would be available in fifteen days.
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