[Update: As reported by Telegraph, after the story got published on social media, chief minister Raghubar Das has asked principal health secretary K. Vidyasagar to send the fact-finding team to the hospital. Jharkhand High Court also stepped in. Taking suo motu cognisance, a bench of Chief Justice Virender Singh and Justice S. Chandrashekhar also issues notices to the chief secretary, principal health secretary and RIMS director. After a daylong probe, Vidyasagar’s team concurred with RIMS director Dr B.L. Sherwal that the woman was not a patient but a destitute but added she was served food on the floor. Later, RIMS director Dr Sherwal sacked trolley man Chandramani Prasad who served the woman food on the floor.

Thanks to media houses and the social media users, the story created an impact and there was a quick action. The Logical Indian would also like to thank the community members for spreading the word.]

At a time, when a spate of reports over the last one month — ranging from Chikungunya in New Delhi, the mournful case of Odisha’s tribal Dana Majhi and several other such cases — are clearly reflecting the deplorable state of healthcare facilities in India, another such disturbing event has been reported from Jharkhand.

In a photo surfaced recently, a patient can be seen eating food straight from the floor of a ward in the state’s biggest government hospital, the Ranchi Institute of Medical Sciences.

A woman named Palmati Devi, with her arms fractured and wrapped in the bandage, ate her meal of rice, dal and vegetables that were served by ward boys on the floor. This incident happened on Wednesday. She was also ordered to clean the floor.

Palmati Devi, at the orthopaedic ward of the hospital, had asked for a plate from the hospital staff as she didn’t have one. But she was rudely told off by the kitchen staffs that there are no plates in the hospital as well.

The hospital that has an annual budget of Rs 300 crore couldn’t arrange for a plate and food was served to her on the floor.

BL Sherwal, the hospital’s Director, told NDTV, “It’s not a common practice but we have started an inquiry and will take action those who served the food on the floor and then forced her to eat from there.”