Nitish Kumar sitting on a ticking time-bomb: The Bihar Coronavirus scene that nobody knows about

While the Centre and almost all the state governments, including the opposition ruled states such as Odisha, Maharashtra and Punjab, have realised the importance of social distancing in the fight against Coronavirus, some rather disturbing reports and visuals are coming in from Bihar showing how the state has lagged far behind in the battle against the novel Wuhan virus leaving it in a totally precarious position.

Coronavirus has already hit the state of Bihar with three positive cases recorded in the state, including a 38-year old Munger resident who had returned from Qatar. The 38-year old perished to COVID-19 on Saturday. However, initially he was believed to have died due of kidney ailments and his swabs were sent for COVID-19 examination only after doctors noticed him having respiratory issues. This sufficiently explains the serious lack or preparedness in Bihar.

Meanwhile, a fresh controversy has arisen even as reports reveal that the body of the Munger resident was given to his family without adhering to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare guidelines which mandate certain precautions to be taken during the funeral of those dying during isolation periods.

Moreover, the death of the first Coronavirus patient in Bihar has also brought into spotlight the issue of slow testing in the state. Reports reveal that the life of the 38-year old could have been saved had testing been conducted promptly. But then this is not a standalone case of delayed testing in Bihar. Every test report is coming with a delay of two-three days seriously hampering the efforts to track down Coronavirus victims and starting their treatment.

Even though most of the testing is now being conducted in Patna’s Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences (RMRI) instead of Kolkata or Pune, and thus the question arises that why there was a delay of three days in the test report of the Munger resident who died of Coronavirus.

Moreover, sample collection is also moving at snail’s pace as only 79 samples were collected till March 22 as against 520 travellers enrolled for observation. Such slow procedures are clearly playing with the lives of the suspected COVID-19 victims. Moreover, there is also a severe shortage of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) putting the doctors and the entire healthcare staff at the frontlines at a serious risk.

Health workers at the isolation wards of the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PCMH), including doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff were spotted working without protective gears like eye shields, gloves, gowns and shoe covers. These doctors are at therefore a serious risk of contracting the novel virus during the diagnosis and treatment procedures.

In this backdrop, another case has come from Bodh Gaya where a driver manifesting symptoms of the China-made virus has died, without being tested for COVID-19. Imagine he too might have been cremated/ buried without undergoing the mandated procedure.

Meanwhile, the clueless ‘Susashan Babu’, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar is once again displaying his inefficiency as Bihar seems to be totally unprepared in the face of this major scare. Images of people travelling together in cramped spaces of bus roofs show how the idea of social distancing has been thrown out of the window in state of Bihar, while the administration has failed to enforce a much-needed lockdown.

What is even more shocking is this video of 12 Muslim foreign nationals being apprehended from a Patna Mosque where they were hiding amidst the ongoing Coronavirus outbreak that has triggered a major public health emergency across India. The Police reached the spot and detained these foreign nationals only after the locals outraged about foreigners were being hidden in the Mosque in the backdrop of the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Bihar is one of the most populous and most densely populated states of India, and the grave negligence of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar might have brought it on the brink of a major public health emergency- the kind that the state might have never confronted. With a 500-bed isolation ward under preparation in the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS), and village guards being charged with the responsibility of identifying people with symptoms, Bihar is least prepared of all states in the fight against Coronavirus.

While the rest of the country is preparing to counter the mischievous traits of Coronavirus- long incubation periods and asymptomatic patients passing the infection further, Bihar government is still stuck on identifying people with symptoms. Even that is proving an uphill task for the Nitish Kumar government. Delayed test repots, lack of protective gear for the healthcare experts and zero enforcement of social distancing have set Bihar on the path of a major public health crisis, making it the potential epicentre of the Coronavirus outbreak in India.