Accident prone

Patna , May 23: Broken bones in Magadh? Then blame toddy.

At least that is what doctors seem to believe. Come mid-April, hospitals across Magadh and Patna region gear up to tackle broken backs, legs and hands, besides the usual road accidents, all related to toddy, one way or another.

This year, too, orthopaedics departments know for sure that traditional toddy would bring its share of patients like previous years.

Arjun Singh, head of orthopaedics department at Patna Medical College and Hospital while talking to The Telegraph said: “Foreseeing growing cases of fractures during summer, our team of experts get ready every year.”

Of 300 stipulated beds, almost 60 to 70 cases are somehow related to toddy accidents. State government figures suggest hospitals in Magadh region — Gaya, Aurangabad, Jehanabad, Nawada and Arwal — register 20 to 30 per cent cases of toddy-related accidents every year.

This year, Singh added, the department rushed through completion of marble flooring of corridors to accommodate surplus patients. The orthopaedics department chief, added: “Toddy drinking injuries are known as baisakha and is like an annual challenge for us.” Last year, while minor bone fractures were treated locally, sundry cases were referred to PMCH.

But, patients get better medical attention here, he said adding that since wheat is harvested around this time, there is also a sharp increase in threshing-related injuries. Also many patients also suffer fractures of the spine because of toddy-related cases. Magadh has having plenty of palm trees from which toddy is extracted.

Take some of the cases. Suresh Kumar (45), a Rafiganj resident, suffered spine injuries after he fell down on under-constructed plinth of a house after getting drunk.

Ravi Bushan (35), a Nawada resident, admits: “I suffered, too. Local doctors referred me to PMCH after I suffered serious injuries in my hip joints after falling from the roof after getting drunk.”

Alok Kumar, a Gaya resident, observed how Anugrah Narayan Medical College and Hospital and Pilgrims Hospital at Gaya along with sundry private clinics and sadar hospitals at Magadh were full of toddy-related cases when he went for his check up. His verdict: there are too many kalalis (country bars) along Falgu river and between Gaya and Bodh Gaya.

Sanjay Singh, a JD (U) political worker at Rafiganj, Aurangabad, added: “Toddy is very popular with lower and lower-middle class men. For them it is the only way to beat the heat. ”

Giving an interesting perspective of toddy drinking culture, S.P. Singh, who retired from Anti High School, said: “Most mud-houses in Magadh do not have windows deliberately, so that it remains dark and cool making it congenial for drinking toddy.”