Yogi Adityanath vows stringent action on Gorakhpur infant deaths

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who on Sunday visited the Baba Raghav Das Medical College Hospital in Gorakhpur, where over 30 children had died in 36 hours last week, along with Union health minister J.P. Nadda, warned of “exemplary” action against all those found responsible for the horrifying tragedy amid Opposition calls for his resignation.

Talking to reporters after visiting the hospital, the chief minister said: “We are waiting for the report of the committee constituted by our government. We request everyone to wait for that report.  If any death takes place, not only in Gorakhpur but in the entire state, due to negligence of the hospital or staff, the government will take strong action those responsible. Nobody will be spared.” The CM turned emotional and said: “This is sensitivity, and not politics.”

He promised that his government would take such action against the guilty that it would prove to be a deterrent for others. The CM said action would also be taken against government doctors found indulging in private practice.

Yogi Adityanath said he had instructed doctors at the BRD Medical College at allow the media in groups to visit hospital wards and see the facts for themselves.

The CM also said the Centre had sent a team of doctors from New Delhi to shoulder the responsibility of local doctors at the hospital. “This is my fourth visit to BRD Medical College after becoming chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Our campaign against encephalitis has been running for quite some time and we are determined to eradicate the disease that has claimed hundreds of lives. No one can understand the pain of seeing children die better than me”, he said.

The chief minister said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “deeply concerned” about the situation and was in constant touch with the state government.

Union health minister J.P. Nadda said the Centre will provide all possible help to the state government in dealing with the situation. “As health minister I have faced queries from Yogi Adityanath on dealing with encephalitis and I know how concerned he is about the issue. We will do all that is possible to help the state government on this issue”, he said.

Meanwhile, the parents of a baby girl who died on August 10 told reporters on Sunday that the oxygen level at the BRD Medical College  Hospital in Gorakhpur, where 63 children died over the past five days, were alarmingly low. Ajay Shukla, the father of Sarika Shukla, who was only 17 days old when she died around 5 pm on August 10, said oxygen levels were low two days before the deaths took place.

“On August 8 too, there was a low oxygen supply situation at the NICU ward and a monitor that they were told was an ‘oxygen level monitor’ was beeping with the red sign which indicated low oxygen”, said Mr Shukla. He further said the scenes at the hospital were “chaotic” when so many babies started dying on August 10.

The hospital has said the baby had died of a cardio-respiratory failure, meaning a cardiac arrest that led to respiratory failure.

Another father, Zahid, said his daughter Khushi, 5, died at around 5 pm on Friday when her body went cold. But the hospital declared her dead at around 10 pm. “The doctors kept taking out blood from the body to show mediapersons that she was alive”, Zahid said on Sunday.

“She had high fever in the morning on August 10 and private doctors referred her to the medical college. She was admitted to the hospital at 12.30 am on Thursday and was all right till the time she was getting proper oxygen supply, but her body turned cold and stiff after it was replaced with the ambu bag. She became breathless and around 5 pm, and her body became still”, he recalled.

He also accused the hospital staff and doctors of having misbehaved with attendants. “When I asked the hospital staff to change my daughter’s wet shorts, they asked me to bring diapers,” said Zahid.