Media has been reporting an incident as per which 30 children have lost their lives in Baba Raghav Das Medical College, Gorakhpur, as the supply of oxygen cylinders was stopped by the private contractor. The incident has taken place on Thursday and the reason that the private contractor gives for his action is the non-payment of his dues of about Rs. 70 lakh by the government owned hospital.
However, the government of UP denied the charges and stated that other arrangements were made for supplying the oxygen. It also said that the deaths are result of “various medical reasons and illnesses”.
गोरखपुर के बीआरडी मेडिकल कॉलेज में ऑक्सीजन की कमी से किसी रोगी की मृत्यु नहीं हुई है।
— Government of UP (@UPGovt) August 11, 2017
कुछ चैनलों पर चलाई गई ऑक्सीजन की कमी से पिछले कुछ घंटों में अस्पताल में भर्ती कई रोगियों की मृत्यु की खबर भ्रामक है।
— Government of UP (@UPGovt) August 11, 2017
On the other hand, as per the news agency PTI, a statement made by Union Ministry quoted the police superintendent who said deficiency of oxygen took life of 21 children.
The CM of the state, Yogi Adityanath, belongs to this constituency and he was here two days ago. He supervised the arrangements at the encephalitis wards. The irony in the matter is that the majority of deaths have taken place in neonatal and encephalitis wards.
DM Rajeev Rautela told the media persons that a magisterial inquiry would be conducted in this matter. He also said,
“We have been told that BRD witnessed disturbance in liquid oxygen supply since last night as firm withdrew supply owing to non-payment. The BRD principal told us that out of an outstanding of Rs 70 lakh, Rs 35 lakh was paid to the Lucknow-based firm. But it denied receiving the money.”
The opposition parties, Samajwadi Party and Congress, have criticized the government and demanded resignation of Siddharth Nath Singh, the health minister of the state. In addition, they made a demand of compensation of Rs. 20 lakh for the families of each deceased.
The former CM, Akhilesh Yadav, tweeted, “Kins of the deceased were shooed away after handing over dead bodies to them. Post-mortem examinations not done on dead bodies. Admission cards were taken out of records. Extremely sad.”
मृतकों के परिजनों को लाश देकर भगा दिया गया, मृतक का पोस्टमार्टम तक नहीं हुआ है, भर्ती कार्ड भी गायब कर दिया गया है । अत्यन्त दुखद ।
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) August 11, 2017
In another tweet, he demanded compensation:
गोरखपुर मे आक्सीजन की कमी से बच्चों की दर्दनाक मौत , सरकार ज़िम्मेदार।कठोर कार्यवाही हो, 20-20 लाख का मुआवज़ा दे सरकार ।
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) August 11, 2017
Vice-President of Congress, Rahul Gandhi, tweeted, “Deeply pained. My thoughts are with the families of the victims. BJP govt is responsible & should punish the negligent, who caused this tragedy.”
Deeply pained.My thoughts are with the families of the victims.BJP govt is responsible & should punish the negligent,who caused this tragedy https://t.co/rdwDJblJEj
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 11, 2017
Senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and unit chief Raj Babbar will be sent by Congress to consider the whole situation.
Nearly 50,000 deaths of children have been reported in Eastern UP in the last three decades because of mosquito-borne Japanese encephalitis and acute encephalitis syndrome. The present CM has launched a movement to finish-off encephalitis and 2 days ago, he was here to check himself the irregularities present, if any.
Twitter also furiously reacted over the matter:
Modi Ji, are you listening?
Modiji would have tweeted,expressed grave concern if children were fromUSA,UKetc.He isnt bothered about tragedies in India.#योगी_बनाए_रोगी
— Radhika Khera (@Radhika_Khera) August 12, 2017
Who is your priority?
State which plans ambulance for Cows fail to ensure Oxygen supply to children !!What are your priorities Mr CM @myogiadityanath ? #Gorakhpur pic.twitter.com/mdkjExseOG
— Indian Youth Congress (@IYC) August 11, 2017
Bitter irony:
https://twitter.com/inquestioner/status/896044824293367808
Who all demands this?
https://twitter.com/inquestioner/status/896025738121433088
Shameful!
BJP can purchase MLAs with crores of money but they can't provide oxygen to its citizens.#GorakhpurTragedy @divyaspandana @rachitseth https://t.co/kqYGDy8uCU
— Bilal Ahmed (@BilalAhmedNgp) August 11, 2017
Earlier Yogi Adityanath used to blame UP Govt for all Encephalitis deaths but now he only blame Encephalitis to save himself #योगी_बनाए_रोगी pic.twitter.com/nheIwf0ZJR
— Invincible (@i_me_my5elf) August 12, 2017
A jibe at Arnab Goswami:
https://twitter.com/sadhavi/status/896055181078482944
BJP paid media won't give importance to Gorakhpur news.No Arnab Republic Rage.May God give strength to those families,RIP!#योगी_बनाए_रोगी
— Rajeev Reddy (@RajeevReddyINC) August 12, 2017
Sad!
https://twitter.com/realkeerthi/status/896215085458235392
Why no money for oxygen?
https://twitter.com/anandgupta_/status/896211153281363968
What do you have to say in this regard?
