PATNA: Bihar state health department had to face another embarrassment after a video of a clash between an auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) and an accredited social health activist (Asha) worker went viral on the social media.
The incident took place at Lakshimpur referral hospital in Jamui district.
In the video, two women can be seen pulling each other’s hair and hitting and knocking each other.
The video shows the two women converting a health centre into nothing less than a battleground and even using slippers and leg to hit each other and pulling each other by the hair.
While a few people remained a mute spectator of this ugly incident, a man could be seen trying to stop the two by coming in between them.
As per a media report, locals stated that the Asha worker had approached the ANM to administer BCG vaccine to a newborn kid.
However, ANM demanded Rs 500 to get this work done.
The fight between the two started with a heated argument leading to physical assault.
State health department additional chief secretary Pratyaya Amrit called this incident ‘the unbecoming of a public servant’.
Amrit said action against both the women, one a healthcare worker and another a frontline worker, has been initiated.
While the Asha worker will face delisting, strict departmental action has been initiated against the ANM.
Jamui district magistrate Avaneesh Kumar Singh said apart from action against the culprit, he has instructed the civil surgeon to investigate whether any healthcare worker was involved in malpractice and demanding money for the service provided free by the government.
“For any such malpractice, action will be taken,” said Singh.
When asked about the exact timing and date of this incident, Singh said it had probably occurred on Sunday.
Several such embarrassing incidents have been reported of late during the Covid-19 pandemic in the state.
A week earlier, the department had ordered a probe after a record showed Patna civil surgeon Dr Vibha Kumari Singh had been inoculated with Covid-19 vaccine five times.
Dr Vibha claimed her PAN card was used by some miscreant to get the vaccine.
Earlier in December, the names of prime minister Narendra Modi and cine stars Priyanka Chopra and Akshay Kumar were put in the list of people who had been tested for Covid-19 in Arwal district.
