Baripada: A man was allegedly administered three livestock injections by a quack at Mahuldiha village in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district.
The incident comes days after a study said Odisha recorded the highest number of deaths of patients due to treatment by untrained healthcare practitioners in the country in 2019.
The quack, identified as 62-year-old Biswanath Behera of Kantipal in Keonjhar district, is reportedly on the run after a police case was lodged against him. Behera had come to Mahuldiha village on April 17, identifying himself as a doctor from Thakurmunda Community Health Centre.
Behera allegedly administered three Meloxicam injections — meant for animals — to Srikanta Mohanta (55), who was suffering from back pain for some years. Mohanta, luckily, did not develop any complications and is stable.
According to reports, the quack administered all three injections within five minutes and also gave Mohanta some tablets. He charged Rs 470 for the treatment.
Later, Mohanta’s son, suspecting something amiss, sent photos of the medicine and injection to a doctor in Thakurmunda, who confirmed the injection was for animal-use only.
According to a study by the economic research wing of SBI, Odisha recorded the highest number of deaths of patients due to treatment by untrained healthcare practitioners in the country in 2019.
Odisha reported deaths of 36% of patients while undergoing treatment by untrained health practitioners against the national average of 18.3%, the study found. Of Odisha’s deaths, 30.4% were registered in government hospitals and 18.3% in private facilities.
The study revealed that 3,42,947 deaths were registered in Odisha in 2019 compared to 3,28,799 deaths in 2018. The SBI study was conducted with demographic data obtained by the last Sample Registration System (SRS) survey.
