UP’s Gorakhpur replay: 49 die in Farrukhabad

Lucknow/Farrukhabad: Along with Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh’s Farukkhabad is making news for all the wrong reasons.

In a virtual replay of the tragedy in Gorakhpur, where 30 children died in two days in a state-run hospital last month, Farukkhabad’s Ram Manohar Lohia hospital has reported 49 deaths of children during a one-month period, allegedly due to lack of oxygen supply.

The deaths reportedly took place between July 21 and August 20 in the Sick Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) of the hospital, whose chief medical officer (CMO) has been removed. District magistrate Ravindra Kumar has also been transferred for delayed action.

In more trouble for the state government, 24 more children died at Gorakhpur’s BRD Medical College hospital in the past 48 hours. Newly-appointed college principal Dr P.K. Singh said that nine children died on Sunday, and 15 died on Monday.

Read: UP deaths criminal negligence, says Congress

In the Farukkhabad hospital, 30 children died in the SNCU, 19 others died at the time of delivery or soon after birth, a government spokesperson said in Lucknow.

SNCU in-charge Dr Kailash Kumar, however, said the deaths were due to premature birth and underweight.

However, an official said, most of the children died from “perinatal asphyxia”, a condition in which a newborn has trouble breathing.

Principal health secretary Prashant Trivedi said it was too early to confirm the reasons for the deaths. “No shortage of oxygen has been reported and to say so is to sensationalise the matter,” he said.

After the deaths, an FIR was filed in Farukkhabad on Sunday night against CMO Umakant Pandey, chief medical superintendent Akhilesh Agarwal and Kailash Kumar. They were booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and laxity.

However, the state government said no action would be initiated against them on the basis of the FIR.

“The way things have been presented is not what happened. No action, therefore, is being initiated on the basis of the FIR registered against the CMO and the CMS,” Mr Trivedi said.

The deaths of children in Farukkhabad, coming within a month of the deaths in Gorakhpur, expectedly unleashed a political war of words.

The Samajwadi Party termed the incident “barbaric” and state Congress chief Raj Babbar said that the Yogi government had turned Uttar Pradesh into a “sick” state with the health sector itself needing a strong treatment.