Gorakhpur children death: UP CM urges media to provide right facts, figures
Lucknow: Addressing the media for the first time after the death of 63 children in Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College in Gorakhpur started drawing criticism from people across the country, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday said the deaths were not due to shortage of oxygen.
The Chief Minister also urged media to give right facts and figures in Gorakhpur hospital incident.
"Different media outlets have reported a different toll on number of deaths," Adityanath said.
He said different figures in different media are just spreading panic among people.
Yogi Adityanath expressed his grief over the loss of lives of children in the incident and extended his condolences to the bereaved families.
He said he was the one who started the fight against encephalitis.
The Chief Minister said that a committee, headed by the Chief Secretary, has been constituted to inquire the role of oxygen supplier in the incident.
Yogi Adityanath said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed his concerns over the incident and assured all possible help.
He said the health secretary govt of India, has also reached Gorakhpur.
Yogi Adityanath said he had visited Gorakhpur earlier and had held a three-hour long meeting with the officials on vector borne diseases including encephalitis.
He said during his visit to Baba Raghav Das Medical College, no one mentioned the issue of oxygen supply.
He said the investigation is underway and those responsible for the deaths will not be spared.
63 children have died over the last six days in Gorakhpur's Baba Raghav Das Medical College.
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.
The principal of the BRD medical college was suspended on Saturday.
"We are suspending BRD medical college principal with immediate effect for this negligent behaviour," Ashutosh Tandon, the Health Minister and Siddharth Nath Singh, Minister for Medical Education said.
"High-level probe to take place, headed by Principal Secretary. Will wait for report, action will be taken. Till then suspending principal," Tandon added.
Raids were conducted on Saturday at a company which supplied oxygen cylinders to Gorakhpur's Baba Raghav Das Medical College.
Gorakhpur District Magistrate Rajeev Rautela said the cause of the deaths at the BRD Hospital was the disruption in the supply of liquid oxygen and further appealed to the suppliers to not cut the supply henceforth.
Following this report, the Uttar Pradesh Government jumped in defence of the medical college, while also assuring that the District Magistrate has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident and the report will be out in 24 hours.
Meanwhile, according to data procured from the BRD hospital, in past five days - from August 7 to August 11, a total of 60 deaths have occurred in the hospital.
The procured data also shows the number of oxygen cylinders sent for refilling each day, showing a clear shortage of liquid oxygen in the hospital.
Congress demanded Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh's resignations, blaming the state government for its sheer failure in providing proper medical facilities to the patients in time.
While the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) termed the death of infants as an outcome of the state government's "gross criminal negligence" and demanded a high-level inquiry into the incident.
Both BSP and SP have decided to send teams to Gorakhpur.
