As 63 children die in UP hospital in 5 days, BJP, Congress engage in political fight

The death toll of children at the Gorakhpur hospital in Uttar Pradesh rose to 63.

Lucknow, August 12: The death toll of children, including newborns, mostly suffering from encephalitis at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College and Hospital in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, has risen to 63 on Saturday, as per a report by news agency, ANI.

According to ANI, the latest casualty is that of an 11-year-old patient in the Gorakhpur hospital. The child, stated to be suffering from encephalitis, died on early Saturday morning.

On Friday, the news of deaths of 30 minors within 48 hours in the hospital rocked the nation. The reports suggested that the children died due to lack of availability of oxygen in the hospital. Now, it has come to light that at least 63 children died in the hospital in the last five days.

The supply of the oxygen has been allegedly stopped in the hospital by a private supplier over non-payment of dues. However, officials refuted the allegations on Friday stating that the hospital has enough oxygen supply.

The authorities maintained that all the pending dues, amounting to at least Rs 60 lakh, had been cleared by the hospital. But, doctors and patients in the hospital told a different story, admitting lack of supply of oxygen for patients. On Saturday, several oxygen cylinders were brought in to the hospital.

After the news of deaths of children in the hospital was highlighted by various media outlets, the opposition parties slammed the Yogi Adityanath government in the state.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi expressed shock and anger over the deaths.

The Congress president said she was pained beyond words by the humongous tragedy and that her heart went out to the families of the innocent children who "fell prey to gross negligence and incorrigible misconduct on part of the authorities".

Congress VP said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led UP government was responsible for the tragedy. "Deeply pained. My thoughts are with the families of the victims. BJP govt is responsible and should punish the negligent, who caused this tragedy," he tweeted.

The incident triggered a spate of reactions from the opposition parties, with the Samajwadi Party and the Congress seeking the resignation of the state health minister.

Reacting to the allegations, state health minister Siddharth Nath Singh on Saturday said that the opposition parties should not politicise the deaths.

"We will do proper investigation of the entire tragedy. We will take quick action. It's a serious issue," UP health minister added.

The incident has got a lot of attention because Gorakhpur is the parliamentary constituency of the UP CM. He still holds the seat.

OneIndia News