It takes 70 students to die for the chief ministers to pay attention to the condition of government hospitals
In wake of the Gorakhpur tragedy where over 70 children died in a hospital due oxygen supplying getting cut off, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will conduct a meeting with senior officials and medical superintendents to review the stock of medicine and condition of diagnostic equipment in government hospitals.
The medical superintendents of all hospitals have been asked to prepare status reports on all the equipment and medicines, which will be reviewed in the meeting. The meeting will also see some senior health officials including the health secretaries, on August 16.
"We have not received any official confirmation on this, but we anyway prepare a bimonthly status report, which goes to Chief Minister via Health Secretary," says Dr Punita Mahajan, Medical Superintendent, Ambedkar Hospital. "The system is streamlined now and we have also initiated the procurement of the equipment we needed. We have the permission to buy the urgent equipment we need," she added.
At least 70 children died in a span of 72 hours on August 10 at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College at Gorakhpur, which is alleged to be due to a shortage in supply of liquid oxygen. The Yogi Adityanath government has rejected suggestions that the deaths were linked to the shortage.
"For a large hospital like Guru Tegh Bahadur (GTB), 93 per cent of our medicines are available and 95 percent of the equipment is up and running. As per an earlier order, we maintain a bimonthly record and happy to show the good figures to the CM," says Dr Sunil Kumar, Medical Superintendent, GTB. "My heart goes out to the families who lost their children in Gorakhpur and it is difficult for the administration as well to accept what has happened. This problem needs to be sorted out to avoid future occurrences and Kejriwal's decision to keep a check on Delhi hospitals is good," he added.
...& ANALYSIS
- It takes 70 students to die for the chief ministers to pay attention to the condition of government hospitals.
- There have been regular media coverage on the poor condition of the government hospitals, and the authorities have given routine replies that they will look in to the matter. But the matter has never been resolved
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