A three-year-old photo of dogs resting on beds in a hospital ward in Bihar has been revived as the recent situation in the flood hit state. The viral photo which shows five dogs sitting on empty beds in a hospital ward, has been revived with captions blaming Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's government for the bad administration of hospital beds amidst a pandemic and the floods.
Bihar is currently facing severe floods, with major rivers crossing the danger mark and people in 10 districts have been displaced. The state is also battling rising Coronavirus cases with the currently more than 45,000 number of active cases.
Dr Tanweer Hassan, member of Rahstriya Janata Dal posted the viral image with a caption that read, "These photos are from the hospital in Muzaffarpur. Congratulations to Nitish Kumar."
(Original text reads: ये तस्वीरें मुज़फ़्फ़रपुर के अस्पताल की है। नीतीश कुमार को बधाई दे दिजीए।) An archive of the post is available here.
ये तस्वीरें मुज़फ़्फ़रपुर के अस्पताल की है। नीतीश कुमार को बधाई दे दिजीए। pic.twitter.com/mrv8Ncgh4S
— Dr Tanweer Hassan (@DrTanweerHassan) July 28, 2020
Many other Twitter users also shared the post with a similar caption criticising Nitish Kumar.
ये तस्वीरें मुज़फ़्फ़रपुर के अस्पताल की है। डबल इंजन की सरकार नीतीश कुमार को बधाई दे दिजीए। pic.twitter.com/x9TwSaIPeh
— Sewak Amit Sah (@amitsahjapl) July 29, 2020
The same post is viral on Facebook. An archive of the post is available here.
FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the photo is from Muzaffarpur in Bihar and dates back to an incident from 2017 with the then District Magistrate also initiating an investigation into the same.
A search using keywords in Hindi 'Dogs in a hospital' led us to a tweet from December 5, 2017 where a user D Mishra, who describes himself as a journalist with the Hindi daily, Dainik Bhaskar, posted a newspaper clipping of the paper, carrying the same photo. According to the news report, the photo is from the Sadar hospital in Muzaffarpur, Bihar
The image, which carries two photos - both showing dogs resting on beds in a hospital ward, is from a news clippping of the story published by the Muzzafarpur edition of Dainik Bhaskar. The article in hindi is titled, 'This surgical ward is a rest house for stray dogs at night' and was published on December 5, 2017.
— D Mishra (@DMishra19438119) December 5, 2017
The same viral image can be seen in the left corner of the news clipping. See below:
The viral image can be seen in the left corner (marked with a red box)
The webcopy of the same report stated that the stray dogs took shelter every night in a surgical ward in Sadar hospital in Muzaffarpur, Bihar and the lack of hospital staff to oversee things, allowed them to roam around freely. It further said that the ward had 40 beds, 10 of which were being occupied by dogs. Another report by Dainik Bhaskar stated that the then Muzaffarpur district magistrate, Dharmendra Singh, had ordered an investigation and directed the ward attendant and security personal to be stationed in the ward henceforth.
More news reports of the incident can be seen here, here, and here.
The recent floods in Bihar have seen several pieces of misinformation being shared around. BOOM has previously debunked unrelated photos claiming to show the condition of COVID-19 care hospital in Bihar during the floods and old photos peddled as from the recent floods.
ALSO READ: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Tweets Old Photos As Recent Floods In Assam, Bihar