Gorakhpur: 'Saw 25 bodies and prayed God not my daughter', father reveals chilling details of night of horror

‘The account below was narrated by Manager Rajbhar a painter by professional and a resident of Motipur village in Gopalganj, Bihar. A painter by profession and a resident of Motipur village in Gopalganj, Bihar, he and his wife Sunita borrowed Rs 15,000 from relatives to rush to BRD Medical College on referrals from local doctors for the treatment of their newly-born daughter suffering from high-fever.

The following his account of the horrifying night:

It was a nightmare and most horrible night of my life. Parents and relatives were wailing loudly following frequent death calls from Encephalitis and Neo Natal wards. Number of deaths suddenly rose, rather doubled than the previous night. I saw with my own eyes children gasping for breath and dying one by one.

Bodies were being hurriedly handed over. Security personnel pushed and shunted parents out of hospital with bodies of their bundle of joys wrapped in bed-sheets. God did not listen to our prayers. My name was also called on August 11 at 10 pm. My wife’s hands were shaking when she lifted body of our six-day-old daughter. The nightmare did not end there. More shocks were yet to come. – Manager Rajbhar

 We paid Rs 4,000 to an ambulance fitted with oxygen facility from Gopalganj to reach BRD Medical College on August 8 night. To my shock, our critically-ill daughter was denied admission. Hospital staff said no bed is available in neo-natal ward. A local smiled upon hearing the hospital staff rhetoric. He suggested to pay few hundreds. I followed and secured admission for my daughter. The lady doctor who attended to her told that she will not survive.

Sunita was allowed to sit next to her in the ward. The night passed and the next day I was asked to buy medicines from outside. The doctor at night said her condition was improving and she may survive. But on August 10, there was panic call in Encephalitis and Neo-Natal and ICU wards. Initially, we could not find any reason.

But soon whispers reached our ears too. There was no oxygen. Doctors and hospital staff were panicking. So, were parents and relatives. We had seen with our own eyes children gasping for breath. Convulsions followed and life oozed out. After 10 pm death calls started pouring in from these wards. Parents would go in and come out with bodies of their children. They were forced by security personnel to leave the hospital from the back door. I personally counted up to 25 deaths and prayed God, not my daughter.

We were happy that our daughter survived the oxygen short supply onslaught. But our joy was short-lived. At 10 pm on August 11, my name was called. I was numb. I went inside only to find that Sunita has wrapped the body of our only daughter in her dupatta waiting for me to take it out.

The ordeal did not end here.

I had no money to hire ambulance. I thought of calling relatives in the morning. But hospital staff insisted to leave at once with the body. When I refused, they called the police. They were a bit sensitive to my problem of having not enough money. They suggested to take a train. I had no choice. They dropped us in police jeep to the station. We came back and buried our daughter

Rajbhar added that many patients were denied bodies on August 10 and wondered why the government was denying that oxygen cylinders were the cause:

He said: “When I have seen with my own eyes how a panic-stricken doctor fetched oxygen cylinders in private his vehicle on August 10 night to save some precious lives then why government was denying that the main cause of deaths of our children. We have lost our child but there is no one to wipe our tears.”