Patna: With beds in all Bihar hospitals occupied and around 60 per cent of doctors shutting their private clinics out of fear of contracting COVID-19, poor villagers in the state have been left at the mercy of rural medical practitioners.
Sanjay Kumar Mishra, a government official in Patna, thanked one of these practitioners for the life of his wife when no doctor picked up his calls for urgent medical help. “My wife had tested positive for COVID-19 and one day she suddenly had severe diarrhoea which worsened her condition. I called up several doctors but none answered the calls,” Mishra said.