30 children die in Gorakhpur hospital

At least 30 children died in the state-run Baba Raghav Das Medical College here during the last 48 hours, district magistrate Rajeev Rautela said today, but gave no reasons for such a large number of deaths.

He said 17 children died in the neo-natal ward, 5 in AES (acute encephalitis syndrome) ward and 8 in the general ward.

An inquiry committee has been set up to ascertain the exact causes of the deaths and it has been asked to submit its report by tomorrow evening.

Action will be taken against those responsible, Rautela said.

He said seven deaths (neo-natal ward 3, AES ward 2 and general ward 2) were reported since last midnight, while the remaining 23 deaths (neo-natal 14, AES 3 and general 6) were reported since midnight of August 9-10.

To a specific question as to whether the casualties were due to shortage in supply of oxygen, Rautela said he found out from the doctors that no death occurred due to lack of oxygen.

He said alternative arrangements had been made from neighbouring Sant Kabir Nagar district to ensure availability of liquid oxygen for the hospital.

Asked whether the firm supplying oxygen had stopped doing so pending payment, he said part payment had been made to the company for supply of oxygen to the hospital.

Gorakhpur is the Lok Sabha constituency of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the incident comes barely two days after his visit here.