Tejashwi urges Modi to free Bihar Health Minister from Bengal campaign

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP National President J.P. Nadda to release Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey from the West Bengal poll campaign.

Patna:Keeping in view the alarming situation in Bihar due to Covid 19, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP National President J.P. Nadda to release state Health Minister Mangal Pandey from the West Bengal poll campaign.

Source: Twitter

Tejashwi's reaction came after soaring infections and consequent deaths including of two IAS officers in Bihar.

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"Humbly request Hon. PM @narendramodi Ji & @JPNadda Ji to spare Bihar Health Minister from BJP's #BengalElections duty. His tokenism as Bihar HM has already cost many precious lives. Since last year nothing has been done to ramp up the capacity building of hospitals in Bihar," Tejashwi tweeted.

"The health infrastructure in Bihar has collapsed after a higher number of cases of Corona have appeared. The preparation of the Bihar government to tackle the pandemic is zero. As a result, a large number of people are getting infected and the state government is unable to provide them beds in the hospitals," the RLD leader said while interacting with the media.

Mangal Pandey, who was busy in the West Bengal election campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party, came to Patna on Tuesday and inspected Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH).

While he was inspecting the facilities inside the NMCH, a 60-year-old retired army man Vinod Kumar Singh died outside the casualty ward of the NMCH. His son Abhimanyu Singh claimed that he had requested the hospital administration several times to at least allow him inside but the doctors refused.

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"I requested the doctors to allow him inside the corridor of the hospital. The atmospheric temperature was high and an uncomfortable patient like him who is suffering from Corona infection could not stay there for so long. The doctors said that he would get admission only after the inspection of the health minister was completed. We waited for one and a half hours in an ambulance and he eventually died in it," Abhimanyu said.

Tejashwi said that hospital beds are not available for the common people. Several ministers, IAS officers, top bureaucrats are currently infected with Corona.

"The principal health secretary has sought help from the Indian Army to provide 50 doctors to open a hospital in Bihar having a capacity of 500 beds. It is an admission by the state government that the situation is beyond the control of the Bihar government," Tejashwi said.

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"I have repeatedly said that the Bihar government is insensitive on Covid-19. We have requested to set up adequate numbers of isolation centres, quarantine centres, and tests for every person but the health facilities of the state are minimal," Tejashwi said.

IANS