A 16-second video of an unidentified elderly man eating leftover food from near the garbage dump outside Patliputra Medical College and Hospital’s (PMCH) outpatient department went viral on social media on Friday.
Social activist Ankit Rajgaria, 31, who shot the video at 8.32pm on Thursday, posted the clip on Facebook and Twitter on Friday morning and tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chief minister Raghubar Das, health and family welfare minister Dr Hash Vardhan and home minister Amit Shah.
Talking to The Telegraph on Friday, Rajgaria, the founder chairman of social outfit Human Helping, said: “I shot the video from my mobile phone outside PMCH’s OPD building where I saw the person eating leftover dal lying on the dirty ground beside the garbage dump along with a roti. A stray cow was roaming near him. I immediately took the person to a nearby restaurant and offered him food, but he said he only needed dal as he was carrying roti with him.”
Rajgaria said he offered him Rs 100, but he refused saying he was not a beggar and had arrived at PMCH’s outpatient department for the treatment of his eyes.
“As the OPD was closed during the night, he could not get treatment,” Rajgaria said, adding that person didn’t reveal his name and address left the restaurant soon after.
Rajgaria said he contacted PMCH spokesperson Surendra Prasad immediately after filming the video.
“Prasad asked me to admit the person in the emergency ward, but didn’t send any ward boy to help me. Moreover, how can I admit an OPD patient to the emergency ward before he receives treatment?” Rajgaria wondered.
The PMCH spokesperson said he was away from Dhanbad when Rajgaria called him.
“I requested him to admit the person to the emergency ward. There is no provision of providing food to a patient until he is admitted,” Prasad said.
He said the incident needed to be probed and added that similar issues were common in other government hospitals where poor patients sometimes refused to leave the hospital premises even after being discharged. On humanitarian ground, we should offer them food , but technically, we are not bound to,” Prasad said.
He said it was difficult to keep an eye on patients’ activities outside the hospital premises because of the staff crunch.
PMCH superintendent H.K. Singh said: “We will investigate the issue and take action if our staff is found at fault.”
