india

Updated: Nov 02, 2018 10:12 IST

Animals have become the subject of a political discourse in Bihar with opposition Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal taking potshots at the JD(U) government over the deteriorating health care services after a newborn died allegedly because of rat bites and a dog ran off with a patient’s amputated leg from state-run hospitals.

In another incident, a pig took away the body of a newborn baby from the Sadar hospital in Saharsa last week.

The incidents have given ammunition to the opposition parties, who are poking fun at the failing health administration and Nitish government’s claims of unprecedented development in all spheres.

“It is a rule of dogs, pigs and rats in Bihar. At least the incidents in the last one week suggest so,” leader of the opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav tweeted.

Congress spokesperson Prem Chand Mishra was more sarcastic in his take over the rodent menace in state hospitals, saying rats should be given gallantry award as the rodents in the state are now the “brave souls”.

“The rats are more powerful than the state administration given the fact they nibble the fingers of newborn, drink away liquor stored in police stations and breaching embankments causing floods. Such is their might that the state government is unable to tame them. So, they should be given gallantry awards for their bravery,” Mishra said.

Mishra was referring to a comment by water resources minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lallan Singh who last year blamed the weakening of embankments and subsequent floods in north Bihar districts to rodents menace.

He added other animals like pigs and dogs also qualify for the gallantry awards because they too have exhibited courage targeting patients in government hospitals unchallenged.

The ruling Janata Dal(United) has fended off the allegations and strongly reacted to the Congress and RJD’s offensive on state health administration.

State health minister Mangal Pandey on Wednesday claimed the infant, who was allegedly bitten by rodents at the Darbhanga hospital, had died of a fatal illness and that the victim’s parents refused to believe in the official statement.

“The state Congress is full of rodents,” said, Ajay Alok, state JD(U) spokesperson.

Alok also said the superintendent of the Darbhanga hospital had denied that the newborn had died after bitten by rats.

“The Congress and RJD have the habit of making sarcastic statements on health administration because, during their tenure, cows and buffaloes used to roam in hospitals. Now, the state hospitals are much better off with OPDs receiving high footfalls in rural and urban hospitals,” he added.