A day after a video of a man injured in a road accident in Bihar’s Begusarai district, in which one of his legs was seen plastered with a cardboard sheet, which the doctors said was used as a “splint”, went viral on social media. The Bihar government on Friday (August 7, 2026) ordered a probe into this.

Bihar’s new Health Minister Nishant Kumar, son of former Bihar Chief Minister and ruling ally Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha in March this year, has, significantly, these days been visiting different government hospitals and speaking to patients and their attendants while taking action too against guilty doctors or officials for “negligence”.

In the video, which went viral on social media on August 6, a young man, Kunal Kumar, 28, in black faded jeans and shirt, was seen writhing in pain while lying on a hospital bed with his right leg plastered with a cardboard sheet and hand figures bandaged.

Mr. Kunal Kumar from Maheshwara village under Naokothi police station of Begusarai district got injured in a road accident near Harsain Bridge on Monday (August 3, 2026) evening and was admitted to the nearby Manjhaul Sub-divisional Hospital, which is also known as Manjhaul Referral Hospital, about 7-8 kms away from Begusarai town. He was said to be suffering from a fracture in his right leg. He was, later, shifted to Begusarai Sadar (town) hospital for better treatment.

“I’ve directed the Manjhaul sub-divisional Officer to conduct an inquiry into the incident and report to me”, said Begusarai District Magistrate Srikant Shastri. Begusarai civil surgeon Dr. Ashok Kumar too said, “although it cannot be called a medical negligence, as the process was used as a life-saving mechanism, we’ve ordered an investigation into this. Action will be taken against whoever is found negligent in the incident”. He added that “splints are used as emergency first aid to stabilise a fracture before shifting the patient to a better medical facility center”.

Medically, a splint is a rigid or flexible device used to protect, support and immobilise an injured body part, such as a broken bone, sprain or strained muscle, which limits movement of that body part to reduce pain and help the injury heal properly. “Providing such temporary devices or support to stabilise the fractured area and control bleeding or reduce pain is not incorrect according medical practice”, asserted Dr. Abhinay Priyadarshi who is in-charge of Manjhaul Sub-Divisional Hospital.

He, however, admitted that “when the patient was brought to the hospital, neither any orthopaedic doctor nor a dresser was available at the time at the hospital, so the medical staff had to splint the leg with a cardboard sheet before referring him to a higher medical facility”.

“In cases of fracture, the foremost priority is to prevent movement of the injured part of the body, and if a standard fracture splint is not available, using a cardboard sheet, wood, or any other rigid material as a temporary splint is an accepted first-aid medical practice”, he added further.

The hospital manager, Gauri Shankar, too admitted that the hospital has a “limited number of orthopaedic specialists and it also faces shortages of severe essential resources, including fracture splints. “But, despite these constraints, efforts are being made to provide safe and effective treatment with available resources”, he said.

However, the family members of the patient rued that “since the proper treatment facilities were not available at the hospital, the doctors there used the available medicine cardboard sheet to tie around the injured right leg with bandages for support and, later, he was referred to the Begusarai Sadar hospital for better treatment.”, said one his attending relatives seeking anonymity.

Published - August 08, 2026 11:08 am IST