Evidence of negligence emerges as Gorakhpur death toll rises to 44

Lucknow, August 12 : With emerging evidence of gross negligence by all concerned, the death toll has reportedly risen to 44 at Gorakhpur’s state-owned Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College hospital. The hospital has given a break-up of 60 deaths since August 7 of which 34 are of newborns in the NICU ward, 12 Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) cases and 14 non AES cases. Speaking to the media before leaving for Gorakhpur, Health Minister Sidharth Nath Singh charged the BRD Medical college management, district administration and the doctors of keeping the chief minister, ministers and senior bureaucrats in the dark about the emerging oxygen crisis.
“The chief minister visited the hospital on July 9 and against on August 9 to take stock of the situation. Why did no one bring up the subject during the review meeting,” asked Singh hinting at heads that are likely to roll. He, along with minister for medical education Ashutosh Tandon, left for Gorakhpur after meeting CM Yogi at his residence for 45 minutes on Saturday morning. They are expected to brief him after their return. While initially the state government maintained that the deaths were not due to shortage of oxygen now evidence to the contrary has put them on the backfoot.