Gorakhpur tragedy: Yogi Adityanath orders probe, strict action

Lucknow, August 12
Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh on Saturday assured that quick action would be taken against those involved in the alleged disruption in the supply of liquid oxygen at Gorakhpur’s Baba Raghav Das Medical College hospital, following which over 30 infants lost their lives.
“People responsible for this will not be spared. Quick action will be taken against the ones responsible for this, as it is a very serious issue,” Siddharth Nath said after meeting Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath here.
He said that even the Chief Minister visited the hospital recently but the hospital authorities didn’t inform about any such things as being reported.
“The Chief Minister himself went there on August 9, but none of the doctors or the administration informed him about any such issue of alleged lack of supply of oxygen,” he said.
Siddharth Nath even hit out on the opposition for harping on this issue and said that they should not politicise the death of the children.
“I will only say that this is a very crucial issue. It’s the work of the opposition to question the ruling party. But they should not politicise the death of the children. This is not a correct time,” he said.
State Minister for Medical Education Ashutosh Tandon reiterated the same and said action would be taken after a detailed probe on the matter.
“The Chief Minister has given us proper instruction on this issue. We will leave for Gorakhpur soon and after a detailed analysis of the situation will take further decision,” Tandon said.
Earlier in the day, the alleged disruption in the supply of liquid oxygen at the hospital claimed lives of three more children.
The shortage of oxygen allegedly led to encephalitis, which is a sudden onset of inflammation of the brain, following which the children died.
The families of the children have claimed that the doctors were not treating them well and the hospital was not even providing the medicines which were required for the treatment.
As per the locals, though the hospital is supposed to provide free medical assistance, neither there is proper medical facility available nor are the patients provided free medicines.
Earlier on Friday, it was reported that as many as 30 children lost their lives due to encephalitis in a span of 48 hours at the hospital.
Gorakhpur DM Rajeev Rautela said the cause of the deaths at the BRD Hospital was the disruption in the supply of liquid oxygen and has further appealed to the suppliers not to cut the supply henceforth.
Following the reports, the Uttar Pradesh Government jumped in defence of the medical college, while also assuring that the District Magistrate had ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident and the report would be out in 24 hours.