Hospital services hit as VIPs come calling for optics

INCONVENIENCE Vehicular, pedestrian movement restricted as netas take stock

Authorities turned the tragedy-struck Baba Raghav Das Medical College in Gorakhpur into a fortress for the visit of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and other VIPs on Sunday, allegedly disrupting services to patients at the health facility where at least 64 children have died over six days .

The UP government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party has drawn criticism after the children’s deaths at the facility that had allegedly defaulted on payments of ₹68 lakh to oxygen suppliers over several months.

The government has admitted oxygen supply was disrupted for two hours on Thursday night but ruled it out as the reason for the tragedy.

With CM Adityanath taking stock of the ground reality on Sunday, a large contingent of state police descended on the hospital in the morning to sanitise the area. They restricted vehicular as well as pedestrian movement from the main gate of the state-run medical institute to the 100-bed ward, where the children were admitted.

Police were posted in each ward to prevent anyone from entering or leaving the area. Medicine counters too came to a standstill. The CM reached the medical college at 12.28pm and went to all the wards with doctors, inquiring about the patients. He then held a discussion with doctors and stayed inside the building for over an hour.

During the period, even doctors appeared more concerned about attending to the CM than treating the patients.

The worst sufferers were the attendants. “We have been asked to remain seated in one place until the chief minister leaves the campus,” said Shankar, an attendant, who was made to sit in a corner on the road outside the 100-bed ward where his 20-month-old child Om is admitted. He is a resident of Bakhera in Gorakhpur. It was drizzling, but