Day after tragedy, medical college principal suspended
GORAKHPUR DEATHS Health minister blames encephalitis, CM lack of hygiene
The government suspended on Saturday the principal of an Uttar Pradesh medical college where 23 infants died in 24 hours but denied that a snag in oxygen supply caused the deaths that shocked India and triggered a political blamegame.
State health minister Siddharth Nath Singh admitted that oxygen supply was disrupted at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College in Gorakhpur for two hours on Thursday night but ruled it out as the reason for the tragedy.
“We studied various aspects of the deaths….the deaths were due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), infection and liver failure,” Singh said, announcing a high-level probe. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath – who represented the eastern UP city for almost two decades in Parliament – blamed a lack of cleanliness and hygiene.
Singh said piped oxygen reserves ran low at 7.30pm on Thursday, replenished by cylinders, and the hospital completely lost supply between 11.30pm and 1.30am on Friday.
“Only seven deaths were reported between 7.30 pm-10.05pm when there was short supply of oxygen.” He also pointed out that 20-22 deaths a day was normal for a hospital where thousands poured in from farflung areas of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar -- regions ravaged by the mosquito-borne Japanese
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