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Bihar: Fake Doctor Who Operated 15-Year-Old While Watching YouTube in Saran, Arrested

Mohd. Imran Khan |
Initial police probe revealed that the accused worked as a helper-cum-compounder for four years and later turned into a self-proclaimed doctor.
doctor

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Patna: Two days after a 15-year-old boy died following a fake doctor or quack Ajit Kumar Puri performing a gall bladder stone removal surgery allegedly by watching YouTube videos on his mobile phone in Bihar’s Saran district, was arrested on Monday.

Saran Superintendent of police Ashish Bharti said the main accused, Ajit Kumar Puri, who was absconding after the incident, was arrested and his clinic was sealed. Earlier, police lodged a case against him on the basis of a written complaint by the boy’s family members.

According to police, the victim Krishna Kumar alias Golu’s father, Chandan Shah, in his written complaint said his son was operated without their consent or knowledge. Shah alleged that when Puri was performing the surgery by watching YouTube videos and when questioned, they were told that he was a doctor not them.

During the surgery, Golu’s health deteriorated and when his family protested, the fake doctor assured them that he was taking him to Patna to admit him in a private hospital. But on the way to Patna, Golu died, after the fake doctor fled.

Golu’s family has blamed Puri for the death and demanded stringent action against him.

“After vomiting and stomach pain last week, we admitted Golu to Ajit Kumar Puri’s private clinic Ganpati Seva Sadan at Motirajpur Dharambagi Bazaar in Saran. He was initially treated with injections and medicines for two days, but last Friday, Puri performed the surgery while watching YouTube videos. Golu developed breathlessness followed by unconsciousness. Now we realise that Puri was not a surgeon and an inexperienced fake doctor,” Shah said.

The initial probe by police revealed that earlier Puri worked as a helper-cum-compounder for four years and later turned into a self-proclaimed doctor.

Golu’s case is an example of how pathetic the condition of healthcare is in rural Bihar. So-called fake doctors, locally known as “jhola chaap” are running hundreds of private clinics across the state and poor people become their victims. Most such cases go unreported.

Two years ago, Sunita Devi, a Dalit woman’s kidneys were allegedly removed at a private clinic in Muzaffarpur district. She is battling for life since then. Sunita last Sunday demanded help from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president and Union Health Minister J P Nadda for a kidney transplant to survive. Sunita, who is undergoing treatment at government-run SKMCH in Muzaffarpur, managed to reach Nadda during his visit. With folded hands, she asked him to arrange for a kidney transplant. Nadda has reportedly assured her help.

Despite repeated demands by her and the family for kidney transplant, neither the Bihar government nor the top health authorities till date could arrange a kidney donor for her.

Sunita, in her mid-30s, has been not keeping well after her kidneys were removed in the name of a uterus removal operation in September 2022 at a private clinic. Doctors treating her at SKMCH made it clear that Sunita needs a kidney transplant soon for survival. She has been undergoing dialysis regularly.

Though there appears a little hope for Sunita’s kidney transplant, a local court in Muzaffarpur has convicted Dr Pawan Kumar, owner of Subhakant Clinic in Sakra block, where her healthy kidneys were removed. Kumar, a self-proclaimed medical practitioner, was arrested in November 2022. In June this year, he was sentenced to seven years imprisonment.

Ironically, the main accused in Sunita’s kidney removal case, Dr R K Singh, is still absconding and police have failed to arrest him. Police have attached his property after a court order.

According to police, Kumar and Singh operated Sunita and removed her kidneys at an unauthorised clinic that was neither registered nor had a proper license to conduct surgery. Police investigation into the case shocked all, as there was no operation theatre in the clinic yet it was conducting surgeries.

Days after her kidneys were removed, an FIR was lodged at the local police station on the basis of statement of Tetri .In her FIR, she named Dr Pawan Kumar, his wife Sangeeta Devi, Dr RK Singh, OT assistant Jitendra Kumar Paswan, wife of Kumar and two others as accused in the case. The FIR was lodged under the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994, and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

Sunita’s family recalled that she was rushed to the Subhakant Clinic in early September following stomach pain. After examining her and conducting an ultrasound, the doctors asked the family to deposit money immediately and admit her for a uterus removal operation. But hours after the operation, her health deteriorated, her body swelled, and she complained of uneasiness and extreme weakness. Sensing trouble, a doctor at the clinic advised her family to take her to Patna for better treatment.

However, the family was shocked when doctors of the government-run Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) informed them that both her kidneys had been removed.

After Sunita Devi's kidney removal hit headlines, the National Human Rights Commission and Bihar State Human Rights Commission issued a notice to the state government in
connection with her case.
 

The writer is a freelance journalist based in Patna, Bihar.

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