BRD blaze chars documents, Opposition alleges sabotage
GORAKHPUR: A fire broke out on Monday morning at Gorakhpur’s BRD Hospital, where scores of children had died within a few days at the state-run healthcare facility last August.
Officials in the hospital said that the fire had destroyed some papers and documents in the principal’s office and the hospital’s record room but HT could not verify the claim.
Sources said the officials were looking into the extent of damage and the period to which the gutted records were related. Principal of the medical college Dr Ganesh (goes by his first time) is on leave.
Superintendent of police (north) Ganesh Saha said prima facie it appeared that the fire was caused by a short circuit.
A team led by chief fire officer DK Singh has been constituted to probe the reasons behind the fire.
Minister for medical education Ashutosh Tandon has also sought a report from Gorakhpur DM Rajeev Rautela.
The opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) described the fire as an act of sabotage to destroy records related to the death of the children.
“It should be probed as to how and why only important files were reduced to ashes,” SP district chief Prahlad Yadav said.
Police had arrested nine people, including the former principal,
MINISTER FOR MEDICAL EDUCATION ASHUTOSH TANDON HAS ALSO SOUGHT A REPORT FROM GORAKHPUR DM RAJEEV RAUTELA
over last year’s children deaths due to alleged lack of oxygen. As the fire broke out on Monday morning, junior doctors and staff members tried to control the flames with fire extinguishers and informed the fire department. Four fire-tenders rushed to spot and doused the blaze in the building located near the emergency ward.
No casualties were reported as the incident took place before the officials reached the hospital. Talking to the Hindustan Times on condition of anonymity, a doctor at BRD said the hospital administration failed to control the blaze despite having an advanced fire management system worth Rs 1 crore.
“This is sheer negligence on the part of maintenance officer who even did not know how to operate the fire management system. Had it been used timely, the fire would not have escalated and the loss could have been minimised,” he said.
An eyewitness said thick smoke billowing out of the building caused panic among the patients and their attendants.
“They were informed that they were safe and only a portion of the hospital had caught fire,” he said.
LUCKNOW: UP minister for medical education Ashutosh Tandon has sought a report from Gorakhpur district magistrate Rajeev Rautela on the fire incident at the BRD Medical College on Monday.
“I have talked to the DM as well as the principal of the medical college regarding the fire incident. The principal has told me that the files kept in the steno room were destroyed and the remaining documents were safe,” Tandon told the HT.
The BRD Medical College had hit the headlines when at least 30 children died on August 10-11 last year allegedly due to the disruption in the supply of oxygen following non-payment of dues to the vendor.
After the arrest of all the nine accused, more doctors and officials, including another former principal of BRD, are under the scanner for corruption in the award of tenders to blacklisted firms. The then principal Dr Rajeev Mishra, his wife Dr Purnima Shukla and seven others are lodged in Gorakhpur jail.
According to the charge sheet, Dr Rajiv Mishra has been charged under sections 409, 308 and 120B of the IPC and also under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Dr Kafeel Khan has been charged against sections 409, 308 and 120B of the IPC. For the want of proper evidence, some other charges were dropped against him.
The other accused in jail include director of Pushpa Sales (oxygen supplier) Manish Bhandari, the then head of anaesthesia department Dr Satish, junior clerk Sudhir Kumar Pandey, assistant clerk Sanjay Kumar Tripathi and clerk Udai Pratap Sharma.