GORAKHPUR: At least 30 children died in the state-run
Baba Raghav Das Medical College
here during the last 48 hours, district magistrate Rajeev Rautela said on Friday, but gave no reasons for such a large number of deaths. Rautela was quoted by PTI as saying that 17 children died in the neo-natal ward, five in the AES (acute encephalitis syndrome) ward and eight in the general ward.
According to news agency ANI, two more deaths were recorded in the hospital on Saturday morning.
State health minister Siddharth Nath Singh and minister for technical and medical education Ashutosh Tandon will meet chief minister Yogi Adityanath today in the wake of the incident. They will visit the hospital after their meeting.
Singh said that no child died due to the shortage of oxygen. "Those behind any kind of laxity will not be spared," he told reporters before leaving for Gorakhpur.
Talking about problems relating to the oxygen supply facility at the hospital, he said, "We are probing all the angles - Was there a shortage? Whether the authorities were aware of this? Was there any other issue? Who is responsible?, etc."
On opposition dubbing the tragedy as a failure of the Yogi Adityanath government, he responded, "This is not the time to play politics."
Gorakhpur hospital tragedy: Updates An inquiry committee has been set up to ascertain the exact causes of the deaths and it has been asked to submit its report by tomorrow evening. Sources said the supply of oxygen to the hospital was stopped on Thursday night due to non-payment of dues to the firm engaged in supplying oxygen to the hospital. But officials said there was nothing extraordinary about the outstanding amount and the hospital, the biggest in
Purvanchal
, is not facing any fiancial crunch.
UP director general, medical education, K K Gupta told TOI, “Prima facie, the deaths did not take place due to problem in oxygen supply. Back up cylinders were available. The
BRD Medical College
is the biggest in Purvanchal, and six-seven deaths a day are normal during the peak encephalitis season, when the casualty rates are normally high.“
When asked about the dues to the firm, he said, “Such dues are normal. There is no shortage of funds.“
Minister for medical education Ashutosh Tandon ruled out disruption in oxygen supply as the reason behind the deaths. He said he had announced a magisterial probe into the deaths.
But, as per hospital sources unwilling to be named, there was a sudden drop in the oxygen supply pressure around 8pm on Thursday, and the situation worsened by 11.30pm same day. Around 1.30am Friday, the oxygen supply was resumed with the help of cylinders but it proved inadequate.
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