Hospital turned blind eye to danger signals
LUCKNOW/GORAKHPUR: Officials at the BRD Medical College, where dozens of children have died since Thursday, had been repeatedly warned of an impending disruption in oxygen supply but chose to ignore them until fatalities struck, evidence suggests.
Push pa Sales, the sole supplier of liquid oxygen to the hospital in Gorakhpur, had been regularly writing to the officials, warning that the supply of oxy- gen could be disrupted if accumulated dues of ~68 lakh were not cleared.
The firm had written letters to the BRD authorities on August 1 and August 8 (copies available with HT ), cautioning them about a possible disruption. The letters, however, elicited no response.
The hospital authorities made a partial payment of ~21 lakh against the accumulated dues only late on Friday, a day after 23 children had died at the nodal medical facility for the treatment of encephalitis in the region.