A teenage boy lost his life in Bihar's Saran district after a failed gall bladder-stone removal surgery by a quack who watched a YouTube video for help.
The deceased has been identified as Krishna Kumar, 15, a resident of Bhuvalpur village under Marhaura police station. He had been suffering from stomach pain for some time and his family took him to one Ganpati Seva Sadan at Dharmabagi Bazar area under the nearby Garkha police station area on Friday.
“Krishna was suffering from stomachache and nausea and we admitted him to Ganpati Seva Sadan. The doctor there, Ajit Kumar Giri, sent me to bring some diesel. My wife remained there. When I returned I learned that he (Giri) was operating my grandson. He had not taken permission or informed us about it,” the deceased boy’s grandfather Prahlad Prasad told reporters.
“We rushed to the operation theatre and were shocked to see that the doctor was conducting the surgery by watching a video on YouTube,” Prasad added.
The patient started experiencing severe pain after the surgery and Prasad complained to Giri, on which he scolded him and asked whether he was a doctor.
However, as Krishna’s condition started deteriorating, Giri called an ambulance and headed for Patna with him and his grandmother. But he died on the way.
“Giri left Krishna’s body and my wife on the road and fled. My wife somehow managed to come back with the dead body,” Prasad said.
Prasad has registered an FIR at the Garkha police station. The police officials said that the preliminary inquiry suggests that Giri was not a doctor, but was a quack and was running a clinic.
Garkha police station in-charge and trainee deputy superintendent of police Isha Gupta said the dead body was sent for post-mortem and later handed back to the family.
Meanwhile, Giri and other people working at Ganpati Seva Sadan locked the place and fled after the incident.
Saran SP Kumar Ashish said: “An FIR has been registered and an investigation has started. We are conducting raids to nab the accused doctor and other staff of the clinic."
Bihar is plagued by quacks or rural medical practitioners, and compounders, who have become self-styled doctors and surgeons. They practice without possessing the required degrees and offer health services to a large section of society.
“We do not have any data on quacks. We had conducted raids in the Purnea district around six years ago after receiving complaints about fake doctors or clinics. A few people were arrested back then. However, the initiative was stopped later on,” a senior official in the Bihar health department told The Telegraph on the condition of anonymity.
