A quack in Agar Malwa district of Madhya Pradesh was found running a 'hospital' in an orange farm where patients prone on mats and cardboard sheets spread on ground were being administered intravenous fluid (IV drips) hung from tree branches.
The 'hospital' was operative in the farm just 200 metres from a main road from Susner in Agar Malwa to Pidawa in neighbouring Rajasthan, close to village Dhaniakhedi.
Though the people undergoing 'treatment' here refused to talk on record, some of them revealed that they were seeking medical help in the 'hospital' to avoid going to the government health centres as they fear that they might be admitted in the COVID-19 wards, sources told THE WEEK.
After people came to know about the 'hospital', the chief medical and health officer (CMHO) Dr. Samandar Singh Malviya sent a team to the spot. “We did not find any patients or the quack at the spot, but we did find empty bottles of medicines/injectables that suggested that something was afoot there. Also, there are videos available and we are getting the matter probed further. FIR will be registered against the quack. We got to know that the farm where this was happening belonged to the quack,” Dr. Malviya told THE WEEK. He added that earlier too, four FIRs have been lodged against quacks duping patients.
Talking to local media, the CMHO had said steps were being taken to create awareness among people about COVID-19 pandemic, protocols and treatment and to encourage them to seek medical help when required. Such measures will continue, he said.
Though the CMHO could not confirm the name of the quack, local sources said that he was called Devi Lal. People from at least 10 surrounding villages came to the 'hospital' to get treated and no COVID-19 protocols like use of mask or social distancing were followed.
The available video of the 'hospital' shows several persons, mostly women prone on the ground quite close to each other with some of them being administered drips hung from tree branches. Also other persons, apparently attendants of the patients, were seen sitting on traditional cots put close at some distance to the patients and some others squatting or roaming about, none of them with masks on.
