Gorakhpur tragedy: 30 infants die in BRD hospital in 48 hours, more than 100 deaths recorded every month
- It looks like Gorakhpur hospitals are extremely ill-equipped to save children and infants
- At least 30 children have died within 48 hours at Gorakhpur's Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College Hospital
- This year, there have been more than 100 deaths of infants and children in the hospital every month
FollowIt looks like Gorakhpur hospitals are extremely ill-equipped to save children and infants, or just do not care about their lives.
At least 30 children have died within 48 hours at Gorakhpur's Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College Hospital where a similar incident had occurred back in August had left 30 dead. In fact, the hospital recorded a higher number, close to 69 deaths, in a span of four days in October.
Indian Express had reported that 12 children died on October 7, 20 on October 8, 18 died on October 9 and 19 died on October 10. All of them reportedly died of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome. The earlier deaths had been attributed to unavailability of oxygen cylinders over unpaid bills to the vendor.
Professor Dr DK Srivastava, Head of the Department of Community Medicine, confirmed the recent deaths.
"15 infants were younger than one month. Six of the remaining 15, who were older than a month, passed away due to encephalitis. Others died due to various other reasons," Srivastava told ANI.
Samajwadi Party on Monday tore into the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh Government over the tragic incident.
Speaking to ANI, Samajwadi Party spokesperson Sunil Yadav said, "This is not the first incident that has taken place in Gorakhpur. Even after this, the current state government has not implemented any action of inquiry into the matter. It's sad to know and say that our government is laid back and not adhering to the cries of the common man."
Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath had to face severe critisim from the Opposition parties as the BRD medical college is located in his own constituency Gorakhpur. In fact, this year, there have been more than 100 deaths of infants and children in the hospital every month. The toll in January was 152, in February it was 122, in March 159, in April 123, May 139, June 137, July 128 and the deaths were attributed to various reasons, reported PTI.
Yogi Adityanath had earlier bragged about UP's health care at a rally in Kerala. He had even said that Kerala should learn how to run hospitals from UP. But with the current situation of Gorakhpur’s hospitals it is inadvisable for hospitals of other states to learn anything from UP’s hospitals if they want to save their infants and children.
