Munnabhai MBBS Returns in Leh-ladakh
NEW DELHI : The visit to an army hospital facility in Ladakh by Prime Minister Narendra Modi reminds one of Sanjay Dutt starrier “Munaabhai MBBS”
. This time a conference room is converted into a hospital ward, but unfortunately Munnabhai forgot to arrange dustbin, drip and oxygen stand to give a perfect look to fool his parents.
Not in living memory have I ever seen a hospital ward filled with patients that had a projector & screen at the end. Not in living memory have I seen a ward with zero medical equipment available at any angle tweeted a practicing doctor.
A projector and a screen, the wood paneled hall with wooden flooring and the conspicuous absence of any medical equipment or accessory like the I.V. stand, medicine cabinet, a dustbin, oxygen cylinder or for that matter even doctors and nurses, strengthened the suspicion. And Twitterati had a field day.
The Prime Minister’s visit to a ‘hospital ward’ in Leh on Friday generated mirth on Twitter as photographs surfaced of the PM addressing the injured jawans in the ward. The comments in lighter vein flooded Twitter with the hashtag #MunnaBhaiMBBS and trended on Saturday morning.
The military hospital at Leh has been in existence since before 1962 and has over 300 beds under a Brigadier. But possibly because the PM wished to visit jawans injured in the clash with PLA troops in the Galwan Valley on June 15, a conference room was converted into a makeshift ward.
Sources in the Indian Army indicated that the PM’s security protocol could also have played a role in what looked suspiciously like a contrived photo-op.
The Prime Minister’s penchant for publicity and photo-ops had already provoked a newspaper headline hinting at the PMO treating the visit as a PR opportunity.Others commented on the photograph circulated of the visit.
· I don’t wanna sound like a “conspiracy theorist”. But this looks more like the inside of the Officers’ Mess/ Club. I’ve been to a few. The paneling on the wall, the window blinds, just don’t say “hospital”!! Folks?
Polished clean hospital without doctors & nurse, no medical equipment, projector, well dressed and straight postured patients… read a Twitter comment while another tweet said, “To paraphrase a certain ‘journalist’ – Not in living memory have I ever seen a hospital ward filled with patients that had a projector & screen at the end. Not in living memory have I seen a ward with zero medical equipment available at any angle.
Some of the comments were more uncharitable than the others. Some renegade officers were caught & cashiered for using ketchup to fake battles in order to claim medals. Now Modi adopts the same technique?
A Good Photographer always chooses a good set/studio to take photographs, here a conference room is converted into a hospital to take memorable photographs; however Munnabhai forgot to arrange dustbin, Drip and oxygen stand to give a perfect look to fool his parents.(2020)
This photo opp is fascinating. Not one Indian soldier seems to have external injuries needing any bandages…they are all able to sit straight up (no internal injuries?), the pristine hospital ward with beds that look un-slept on…zero medical equipment. What is going on here?
Has anyone ever seen a patients ward with a projector, a screen & a head table? A ward which doesn’t have a single medical equipment? It’s amply clear, to facilitate PM’s photoshoot, an Army Conference Hall was converted into a ward with army men posing like injured patients.
The army should put its foot down and tell Modi it will not be a part of his marketing gimmicks. This is the limit, turning a conference room into a ward for Photo op Others rose in defence and posted pictures of the Army Chief visiting jawans in the same conference room last month. But it failed to appease many, who wondered if the PMO had asked for it. Did the PM’s Office ask for a hospital ward to be staged… with soldiers being made to fake injury… so our PM can get a feel good photo op?
Veterans also joined in the debate and seemed critical of the Munnabhai culture infecting a great organization like the army.
Army sources, contacted for response, were amused but not surprised. “ When a VVIP visit takes place, it is not uncommon to present a sanitised picture,” said an officer.
Explaining the posture of the injured jawans, who sat straight in ‘Kamalasana’, he added that 18 days after the scuffle at Galwan, chances were that the jawans had recovered. The injuries moreover would be because they fell down on the rocks or into the freezing river. “They wouldn’t require oxygen or intravenous drip after 18 days,” he added.
Meanwhile, The Indian Army on Saturday said allegations that a medical ward had been set up to stage a photo op for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to a military hospital in Ladakh were “malicious and unsubstantiated”.
The medical ward was an audio-video training room that had been converted as part of the COVID-19 protocol long before PM Modi’s visit, it said.
“It is unfortunate that aspersions are being cast on how our brave Armed Forces are treated. The armed forces give the best possible treatment to their personnel,” the army said in a statement.
Prime Minister Modi made an unannounced visit to Ladakh on Friday, weeks after a clash with Chinese troops left 20 Indian soldiers dead. He also met soldiers who were injured and are being treated at the hospital.
The government billed PM Modi’s visit to the Nimu in Ladakh as one to a “forward location” in Ladakh even though the Galwan valley, where the clash took place, is at least 200 km by road and Nimu has long been a popular tourist destination. Forward posts are generally within 40 km of the frontline and fall within range of enemy fire.
Photographs released by the BJP and the government of PM Modi’s visit to the hospital also triggered a controversy online as many said that the facility did not look like a hospital as there were no medicine cabinets, intravenous fluid stands, and other medical equipment.
Some even spotted a projector hanging from the ceiling as PM Modi posed next soldiers on tidy beds with wheels in a sparkling clean room.
“It is clarified that the said facility is part of the Crisis Expansion capacity of 100 beds and is very much part of the General Hospital complex,” it added. It said the COVID-19 protocol had necessitated some wards of the hospital to be converted into isolation facilities.
“Hence, this hall which otherwise was normally used as a Training Audio Video Hall was converted into a ward ever since the hospital was also designated as COVID-19 treatment hospital,” it said.
The army said the “injured braves have been kept there since their arrival from Galwan to ensure quarantine from COVID areas. The Chief of Army Staff General M M Naravane and the Army Commander have also visited the injured braves in the same location.”
(With Inputs from Agencies).
