After Hospital Chief, Doctor In Charge Of Children's Ward Removed In UP

Gorakhpur: Hours after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath promised action against the "guilty" at Gorakhpur's BRD Medical College, where 63 children died last week, Dr Kafeel Ahmad Khan, under whose watch the oxygen shortage of Thursday took place, was removed by the government.

Dr Khan was in charge of the paediatrics department for a few months. Government sources said he failed to take prompt action even though those in charge of oxygen supply wrote a letter on Thursday, warning about the impending crisis.

The government said funds for oxygen were not released by the hospital administration till August 11, even though it was cleared by August 7.

Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said, "I was here on the 9th and I categorically asked about encephalitis but no one informed me. We made the payment on August 7. Why didn't the hospital administration make the payment?"

"Stringent action will be taken against the guilty, whether in Gorakhpur or elsewhere... The punishment will set a standard, I assure you," the chief minister said on Sunday.

The Chief Minister had earlier said it would be a "heinous act" if the deaths were caused by a disruption in the supply of oxygen.

The hospital had defaulted on the payment for oxygen as a result of which the firm sending the cylinders had stopped supply. On Thursday, the hospital had been functioning without any oxygen cylinders for 2 hours. Families of the children have blamed the oxygen shortage for some of the deaths - a claim the hospital has denied.  

Dr KK Gupta, the DGME of Gorakhpur, on Sunday said, "We have looked at each point in great detail... analysed everything... there were no deaths between 11.30 pm - 1.30 am, when the oxygen had finished."

The Chief Minister earlier said the role of the oxygen vendor will be probed. Raids have been conducted at the Lucknow-based firm which stopped supply of oxygen to the hospital.