Rahul Gandhi hits out at Bihar govt's Coronavirus handling, scoffs at 'sushasan'

After horrific footage of a body of a COVID-19 victim lying in the middle of a Patna hospital ward went viral, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took at an aim at the Bihar government saying the incident has exposed the 'sushasan' (good governance) of the government. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has often projected himself as 'sushasan babu' (good governance leader).

"The state of the Coronavirus epidemic in Bihar is critical and out of control of the state government. The lying of unclaimed dead bodies in the hospital ward exposes the 'good governance' of the Bihar government," Rahul Gandhi wrote in Hindi on Twitter. He also shared a news article that reported a Central team flagging poor infection control in Patna COVID hospitals and warning of it turning into super-spreaders.

A Central team was struck witnessing the unrestricted movement of attendants and sundry other people in COVID-19 wards in Bihar’s first dedicated coronavirus facility, Nalanda Medical College & Hospital (NMCH), in Patna, on Sunday. Visuals showed the COVID victim's body lying in the middle of a ward while the delegates were making rounds of the hospital to assess the ground reality about the contagion management in the state.

"Such reckless acts are like superspreaders. The hospital needs to guard against the spread of infection. Else, it will be difficult to break the transmission pattern," a member was quoted as saying.

Coronavirus outbreak

The Coronavirus tally in Bihar reached 27,455 after 1,076 new infections were reported on Monday, with eight deaths pushing the state’s death toll to 187. With the recovery of 938 patients, the total recoveries had gone up to 17,535, with a recovery percentage of 63.87%.