Bihar official calls for roping in quacks in fight against COVID-19; suspended

An overzealous medical officer in Bihar ended up being suspended for floating the idea that the fight against coronavirus pandemic be ramped up by roping in quacks.

The Bihar health department in its suspension order Wednesday, rapped Ashesh Kumar, the civil surgeon of Siwan district, for issuing a circular to the effect on March 25 last, screenshots of which had gone viral on the social media.

In the notification, whereby Kumar has been suspended with immediate effect and attached to the office of a special secretary here, the official has been pulled up for
undermining the state governments efforts by calling for roping in “jhola chhaap doctors” (quacks) which was “against medical protocol”.

The notification also rebuked the official for acting “without seeking permission or bothering to inform” his higher ups about the move and pointed towards the “criticism” the
department faced when the bizarre circular went viral on the social media.

Prominent among those who had trained their guns at the Nitish Kumar government over the episode was the Chief Minister’s arch rival Lalu Prasad.

Currently at a hospital in Ranchi where he is serving sentences in fodder scam cases, Prasad had recently shared a screenshot of the circular with a trademark one-liner “jholachhap doctor, corona and Bihar equals to double engine sarkaar” a snide reference to the BJP sharing power in the state and ruling the Centre.