13 August, 2017
A day after tragic deaths of over 30 children was reported from Baba Raghav Das Medical College in Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's constituency Gorakhpur, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has asked the state health minister to visit the city and submit a report. "This is an example of gross criminal negligence of the BJP government", BSP chief Mayawati said in a release.
"It is pertinent to note that liquid medical oxygen is indispensable for serious patients admitted in the hospital", the letter further warned.
In a shocking incident, eight children died of lack of oxygen in the Encephalitis ward of BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur on Thursday night raising a big question over the prevailing infrastructure in state-run hospitals.
The Hindustan Times newspaper on Saturday described chaotic scenes at the hospital as oxygen supply was disrupted.
UP director general, medical education, K K Gupta told TOI, "Prima facie, the deaths did not take place due to problem in oxygen supply". Ten more deaths were reported on Friday evening.
Siddharthnath Singh, state health minister, also dismissed the reports. BRD medical hospital is under chief minister Yogi Adityanath's. Due to alleged disruption in the supply of liquid oxygen in the hospital, as many as 63 lives have been lost so far. Despite the fact that hospital had kept away from paying the dues to the company supplying oxygen, Rautela asserts that 50 oxygen cylinders were there at the hospital which is kept as an alternative.
Siddharth Nath even hit out on the opposition for harping on this issue and said that they should not politicise over the death of the children. "The government needs to tackle it with a rigorous campaign", said R. N. Singh, a medical doctor who has been leading the fight against the disease in Gorakhpur district.
Meanwhile, according to data procured from the BRD hospital, in past five days - from 7 August to 11 August, a total of 60 deaths have occurred in the hospital.
"When we came to know about the shortage of oxygen and the deaths following it, we supplied around 200-300 cylinders to the hospital out of humanity", Praveen Modi told ANI. "There was no shortage of gas supply", he said.
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad expressing his concern over the incident said, "It's a heart-wrenching incident".
A high-level magisterial probe has been ordered into the incident. The state government later issued a statement claiming that shortage of oxygen was not the reason for the deaths.
