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36 children dead: Medical college principal axed; Adityanath govt pats itself on the back for 'controlling' encephalitis

The government said that the number of cases had reduced from those reported between August 2014 and August 2016

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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath along with Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, Union Ministers Uma Bharti and Narendra Singh Tomar, and others during the inauguration of Ganga Gram Sammelan, in Allahabad on Saturday
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The principal of Baba Raghav Das College in Gorakhpur, where the deaths of 36 children were reported in the past 48 hours, was suspended on Saturday.

The Medical Education Minister Ashutosh Tandon, who rushed to Gorakhpur along with his Cabinet colleague Health Minister Dr Siddharth Nath Singh on CM Adityanath’s direction, announced that Dr Rajeev Kumar Mishra, Principal BRD Medical College, had been suspended with immediate effect. 

Tandon said that the UP government had released funds for the college on August 5, 2017, which was credited into the college’s account on August 7. “Why was the oxygen supplier paid on August 11?” Tandon questioned, adding that the state government has constituted a committee under Chief Secretary Rajeev Kumar to look into all aspects leading to children’s deaths and find the reason behind delaying payment to the oxygen supplier. “We will initiate strictest action once the report is submitted,” Tandon said.

State health minister Dr Siddharth Nath Singh admitted that oxygen was in short supply on the night of August 10 and August 11 between 11.30 pm and 1 am. He, however, maintained that no deaths were reported during this period. “The hospital staff used Ambu bags during this period to continue supply of oxygen to critically-ill children,” he said.

Singh added that August is usually a period where the state records large number of encephalitis. Corroborating his statement with numbers, the minister said that around 17 to 18 infant deaths were reported every August between 2014 and 2016.  “This year’s average is only 4 to 5 deaths, which clearly suggest that the Yogi Adityanath government brought down the number of casualties by improving medical facilities,” he added.


Relatives mourn after the death of children in the state-run Baba Raghav Das Medical College, in Gorakhpur on Friday - PTI

“Our government is very sensitive on even a single death reported. We have taken the issue very seriously and ordered a high-level probe to initiate action against erring officials and further improve medical facilities in the state,” he told DNA.

The minister also blamed the hospital authorities for not raising the oxygen short supply issue before the Chief Minister when he made a visit on August 9 to review facilities at the Encephalitis Special Ward.

Earlier, a high-level delegation of the Congress including Ghulam Nabi Azad, UP Congress President Raj Babbar, Rajya Sabha member Pramod Tiwari and Dr Sanjay Singh visited the hospital and held the Yogi government responsible for ‘mass killings of innocent children’ at BRD Medical College. “We will raise the issue in the Parliament. The Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath should tender an apology to the nation on deaths of innocent children,” said Azad.

Terming the death of infants in a state-run hospital in Gorakhpur as an outcome of the Uttar Pradesh government's "gross criminal negligence", the SP and BSP today demanded a high-level inquiry into the incident.

Both the opposition parties in the state have decided to send teams to Gorakhpur.

"As many as 60 children have died in a government hospital in Gorakhpur in the last six-seven days. This is an example of gross criminal negligence of the BJP government," Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati said in a release here.

Blaming the Yogi Adityanath government for the tragedy, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav claimed that a shortage of oxygen supply in the hospital led to it.

"The company supplying oxygen had informed the principal (of Baba Raghav Das Medical College Hospital) that it would stop the supply if payment was not made and the government must be aware that the deaths have been caused due to a shortage of oxygen," he said.

Stating that the exact toll was not available with the opposition, Yadav said, "We have received information that as the children were dying, their families were being taken out of the hospital in a hush hush manner."

Demanding a high-level inquiry into the incident, Mayawati said all possible help should be extended to the bereaved families.

"As it is not in the nature of the BJP to accept its follies, the matter of dismissing the departmental ministers for this negligence should be left on the wisdom of the chief minister," she added.

The BSP supremo further alleged that the issues of peoples' welfare were of no importance "for the governments of the BJP".

"Issues like tiranga (tricolour), vande mataram, madarsa, anti-romeo squads -- which divert the attention of the people -- are of more importance to them," she said.

Mayawati added that as the incident took place at a time when the chief minister was on a visit to Gorakhpur and "taking time off his political activities and puja-paath, was doing government work", it raised "a hundred questions on the capacity and working of the BJP government".

 

With PTI Inputs

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