In what appears to be a repeat of the Gorakhpur tragedy that claimed the lives of several children within a span of three days, allegedly due to the shortage of oxygen, another hospital in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh has come under the scanner after the reported deaths of 49 children within a span of a month for similar reasons.
The incident relates to government-run Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in UP’s Farrukhabad where 49 children have died allegedly due to oxygen shortage.
City Magistrate Jaynendra Kumar Jain and SDM Ajit Kumar Singh said the probe found that 30 deaths were due to lack of oxygen. They also mentioned in their report that the CMO and the CMS did not cooperate and did not give a correct report.
"During the period, 30 children died mostly due to perinatal asphyxia (a condition in which a child does not breathe normally just before, during, or after birth). During probe, the parents informed that there was delay in providing oxygen and medicine due to which the children died due to lack of adquate supply of oxygen," Jain said in the report.
However, it had no mention of the remaining 19 deaths.
An FIR has been registered against hospital authorities, including the Chief Medical Officer.
“Case has been registered against CMO, CMS and some doctors. Further action will be taken as the investigation proceeds,” Farrukhabad SP Dayanand Mishra told news agency ANI.
Meanwhile, the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government today transferred the Farrukhabad district magistrate as well as the chief medical officer and the chief medical superintendent of the district hospital after the deaths of 49 children in one month.
The hospital recorded 49 deaths -- 30 in neo-natal ICU and 19 during delivery -- between July 20 and August 21, an official spokesperson said in Lucknow.
"A high-level team will be sent to Farrukhabad to probe the the deaths and its technical aspects will also be taken care of. Taking note of the incident, the DM, the CMO and the CMS (women's hospital) have been removed," he said.
He added that 468 deliveries took place in the women's wing of the hospital during the period. Of these, 19 were stillbirths.
Hospital authorities tried to brush aside the allegations of shortage of oxygen and medicines. They said 19 of the reported deaths were of stillborn children and the hospital could not be held responsible for it.
Last month, a total of 30 children died within two days at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College Hospital between August 10 and 11, triggering a huge row. Dr. Kafeel Khan, initially seen as a saviour of many children in Gorakhpur, was arrested on Saturday.
(With PTI inputs)
