Patna: Madhepura PM Pappu Yadav has got "three patients released" from private nursing homes in Patna in the last month, a throwback to the dark days when self-styled "Robin Hoods" ran amok.

The relatives of the patients could not pay the bills, and the body of one patient who had died was not being given to the relatives because the bills had not been cleared.

"When the law is not being implemented it is the job of elected representatives to ensure justice is given to the victims," Pappu said.

Mushrooming of private hospitals running without licence/facilities and manned by doctors whose qualifications are suspect is a fact. They fleece patients coming from outside Patna with exorbitant bills and several of them keep musclemen.

"Why cannot the state government close down such hospitals as Delhi did to Max hospital?" Pappu asked. "How can a patent be charged bills in lakhs? How can government hospitals recommend patients to private ones?"

He said private hospitals were being run by a nexus of touts, doctors and the administration.

"We are against mushrooming of such hospitals which are run by persons with dubious track records and which fleece patients," said Dr Ajay Kumar, senior vice-president of the Indian Medical Association's Bihar chapter. "But no fresh law has to be made to take action against them. If such hospitals are mushrooming it is the fault of the health department."

State health minister Mangal Pandey pleaded helplessness. "The Clinical Establishment Act through which we could have regulated the private health facilities has been challenged by doctors in Patna High Court. As an individual I would like to take action against such facilities but as health minister I cannot, because the matter is sub-judice," he said.

The IMA state chapter will set up an IMA Medical Redress Commission to undertake social, financial, and quality audits of hospitals - on its own and on demand.

One of the hospitals Pappu and his supporters raided, Shivam Hospital in Kankarbagh, alleged the MP was demanding extortion money.

Others, however, are applauding him for re-finding his "Robin hood" image.

Bihar has suffered at the hands of self-styled messiahs. Former MP Shabuddin had fixed Rs 50 as the fee of Siwan doctors. Former MLA Munna Shukla had fixed the fare to be charged by bus owners in Lalganj. Anant Singh boasted that women can move about even in midnight without fear in his constituency.

They succeeded because the entire system had collapsed. The question is, has the system collapsed again?