UP government on Tuesday ordered the filing of the first information against Dr Rajiv Mishra the principal of Baba Raghav Das medical college Gorakhpur and five others including the oxygen gas supplier Pushpa Sales for the death of 72 children of the pediatric ward of the hospital on August 11.
The government also removed the additional chief secretary medical education Anita Bhatnagar Jain and principal secretary revenue Rajneesh Dube has been given the additional charge of the medical education department. The director general of the medical education Dr KK Gupta is also on the chopping block.
The government has taken the action following the inquiry report submitted by the chief secretary Rajiv Kumar to the chief minister here on Tuesday. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath had announced the probe by the chief secretary on August 12.
The government spokesman and the energy minister Srikant Sharma confirmed here on Tuesday that the chief secretary has submitted the inquiry report to the chief minister. Official sources said taking serious view of the report chief minister ordered stern action and ordered the filing of the FIR against the persons indicted by the chief secretary in his report.
Official sources said that the chief secretary in his report had indicted the principal of the BRD medical college Rajiv Mishra, vice Principal Kafil Khan, director general of the medical education Dr KK Gupta, additional chief secretary medical education Anita Bhatnagar Jain and the chief executive officer of the Pushpa Sales, the oxygen supplier to the BRD medical college.
Facing all round flak and intense scrutiny from the Opposition over the Gorakhpur hospital tragedy, chief minister Yogi Adityanath on August 12 had sacked Dr. Kafeel Khan as nodal officer for the Department of Pediatrics of Baba Raghav Das Medical College. The government had also suspended the principal of the BRD medical college Dr Rajeev Mishra, for negligence in discharging his official duties and delaying the payment to the supplier of oxygen to the hospital. The government had also ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident.
More than 70 children had died in first two weeks of this month’s at the BRD medical college in Gorakhpur, which falls under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s lok Sabha constituency. Infections and possible disruption of oxygen supply in the pediatric ward are being blamed for the death. However, the hospital and district administration have rejected the contention that inadequate oxygen supply led to the tragedy.
Among ailments, Japanese encephalitis and acute encephalitis syndrome is said to be the major reason for the tragedy. Gorakhpur is the worst-affected region in the state due to encephalitis. Although vaccines are available, there is no such vaccine for checking Acute Encephalitis Syndrome and better hygiene is the only way to ward it off.
In the wake of the tragedy, Union Health Minister J P Nadda had visited Gorakhpur and announced that the Centre has approved the setting up of a regional medical centre at a cost of Rs 85 crore in Gorakhpur for research into children’s diseases. He said before coming to Gorakhpur he had sanctioned the proposal for a regional medical research centre.
