DR KAFEEL: WAS PUNISHED FOR A CRIME I DIDN’T COMMIT

Departmental inquiry clears Dr Kafeel of all charges of medical negligence and corruption in the 2017 BRD tragedy

GORAKHPUR : Cleared of all charges of medical negligence and corruption in the 2017 BRD tragedy involving the death of more than 60 children, Dr Kafeel Ahmed Khan on Friday said he was made a scapegoat and punished for a crime he never committed. Stressing that the Yogi government should apologise and give compensation to the parents of the deceased children, he also demanded a CBI probe and said the case should be shifted outside UP. Saying that report came out on April 28, 2019 he blamed the state government for keeping him in the dark about being absolved of the allegations made against him for around five months.

GORAKHPUR: : Cleared of all charges of medical negligence and corruption in the 2017 BRD tragedy involving the death of more than 60 children, Dr Kafeel Ahmed Khan on Friday said that he was made a scapegoat and punished for a crime he never committed.

Talking to Hindustan Times, he said the Yogi government should apologise and give compensation to the parents of the deceased children.

He also demanded a CBI investigation and said the case should be shifted outside Uttar Pradesh to ensure an impartial probe.

Saying that report came out on April 18, 2019 he blamed the state government for keeping him in the dark about being absolved of the allegations made against him for around five months. The report of the departmental inquiry comes two years after Khan was suspended from the hospital and spent nine months in jail for the charges that he has now been cleared of. The doctor, who is out on bail, continues to be suspended from the BRD Medical College.

Earlier in a Facebook post he said, “I am very happy. After two years, some good news has come to my family. After the Allahabad High Court verdict that no evidence of medical negligence has been found against me, the report by Yogi Government has maintained that there is no evidence of corruption and medical negligence against me. It has maintained that Dr Kafeel’s team brought 500 cylinders to rescue children during those 55 hours of crisis and that Dr Kafeel even bought cylinders from his own money. The investigation officer himself says that the charges against me are irrelevant. This clean chit will wash away the blot I had been living with for the last two years, but justice will be

› I am very happy. After two years, some good news has come to my family. The report by Yogi Government has maintained that there is no evidence of corruption and medical negligence against me. DR KAFEEL

delivered when the real culprit is put behind the bars.”

On Thursday, the hospital administration handed over the probe report which cleared him of all charges. “The allegations against the accused are insufficient ... Therefore, it is submitted that the accused officer is not guilty,” the report stated.

The 15-page report does not hold Khan guilty of “medical negligence” and says that he had made all efforts to control the situation when the hospital was dealing with oxygen shortage for 54 hours between August 10 and 11, 2017.

The report however, does accuse Khan of being involved in private practice till August 2016.

As per the investigation report, Khan was not the nodal medical officer in-charge of the Encephalitis Ward at BRD Hospital and that the documents contesting the same provided by the Department were “inadequate and inconsistent.”

It clarifies that Khan had informed his seniors of the oxygen shortage, providing the inquiry officer with call details of the same and also presenting proof of providing seven oxygen cylinders in his personal capacity, on the night of the tragedy.

Dr Kafeel’s mother Nuzhat Parveen said “I am thankful to the principal secretary for a fair probe . I also ask the Yogi government to revoke the suspension of my son so that he may continue to serve patients.”

Meanwhile, the Congress hit hard at the Yogi Adityanath government.

The party, from its official handle tweeted, “Now that Dr Kafeel Khan has been absolved of any wrong doing in the Gorakhpur tragedy, will the UP government pin the blame on someone else or finally accept its neglect and role in the death of 63 children due to lack of oxygen?