All must know real story of Gorakhpur tragedy: Dr Kafeel Khan

CHENNAI: On the evening of August 10, 2017, liquid oxygen ran out at the State-run Baba Raghav Das Medical College’s Nehru Hospital in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. Over 80 patients died including 63 children and 18 adults.

Dr Kafeel Khan, lecturer at the paediatrics department, tried to secure oxygen cylinders on his own to prevent many more fatalities. However, he was later accused of negligence and jailed. Later, an official investigation found him to be innocent of all charges. Dr Khan has chronicled the incidents of that fateful night in his book, The Gorakhpur Hospital Tragedy, which was launched in Tamil on Sunday.

Dedicating his book to the innocent children who died at the hospitals and their parents, he says, “I’m not a writer but I wanted to tell the whole story to the public because people knew of my story in bits and pieces only. Families who lost their babies were heartbroken, with many having a child after 13-14 years of trying for a baby.

Many had a baby after several fertility treatments, and most babies who died that day were newborn or less than a year old.” As the junior-most lecturer at the college’s paediatrics department, Dr Khan was hailed a hero for working towards controlling the crisis by procuring 250 oxygen cylinders on his own. But soon, he was suspended, and later, arrested. He had to spend over 6 months behind bars before getting bail.

Dr Khan wants the story of the Gorakhpur tragedy to reach more people. That’s why his book has been translated into 6 languages. It’s available in Hindi, Urdu, English, Tamil, Malayalam and Marathi for now. He has applied for the Telugu, Kannada and Assamese versions too.

After his release from Mathura prison, Dr Khan began working on the book. “It was my habit from Class 6 to write a diary. So, I used to write in prison every day. I put together my letters to my mom, wife and everyone else.

It took almost a year to write,” he recalls. Dr Khan has conducted 270 medical camps and treated 1 lakh kids for free across the country, on a voluntary basis, during floods, pandemic, disease outbreak and other issues through his Mission Smile Foundation.

He alleges being made a scapegoat for drawing attention to UP’s healthcare system that’s riddled with corruption and medical negligence. “My name made the accusations more notorious,” he points out. “When I came out of jail, the children who were saved and their parents came to meet me.

Even those parents whose children did not survive, came with placards in my support. It was immensely gratifying.” Dr Khan has been working in Tamil Nadu for the last one year at the Indira Medical College and Hospital in Tiruvallur as an associate professor and HoD, paediatrics.

“It was so much chaos, physical and mental trauma that I had to stay like a refugee in my own country,” he states. Hailing Tamil Nadu for its public health system, he points out, “Just compare the infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate in UP and this State.

Primary healthcare is so advanced here. But I have to get back to my family in Jaipur, and try to find a job there. Even after the High Court have stayed my suspension, I’ve not got my job back in my home State."

Talking about the primary health care in Tamil Nadu, he said that the Primary Health Centers here are very well functioning and maintained but this is not the case in Uttar Pradesh. He says that a PHC is the first point for anyone to a doctor and it is working really well in many States, but Uttar Pradesh has a long way to go because of the lack of infrastructure, equipment and work force. He appreciated the medical education structure in Tamil Nadu as the State has the second highest number of medical colleges. He says that Uttar Pradesh needs more medical colleges, it's improving and now we have got AIIMS too, but it is to be ensured that nurses are trained and fake colleges or universities are not just issuing certificates.

Citing the pandemic as an example of failure of the healthcare system, he said that when the elite class suffered the brunt, we realised that the rest 70 percent of the population goes through this pain every day of their life because the access to good healthcare is lacking in many places across the country.

During a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens, he was arrested for giving at the Aligarh Muslim University under section 153A and was slapped with the National Security Act, over the speech for spreading hatred. However, later Allahabad High Court said that the speech delivered by Khan was not about spreading hatred and violence, but was about promoting Unity and ordered his release.

He recalls, "they were treating me badly , would strip me naked and hit me. They would not even give me food or water. The special task had me with them fo 5 days and I used to beg them for food and drink water. Mathura prison jailer put me in the isolated cell and I started chewing my shirt and started eating grass out of hunger. I started hallucinating about food. I was away from my children when they needed me. I missed all the milestones such as them learning to eat, talk or walk, that I was told about when I was training as a paediatrician. Both my children grew up without me. They would not come to me because they won't recognise me. It was very painful to go through this. This was the worst of all this tragedy," says a tearful Dr Kafeel.

Dr Kafeel travelled more than 10 States to provide healthcare services through the "Doctors on Road" initiative during the pandemic and he says that the access to primary health centers is not there in many States, while district headquarters hospitals are not equipped and they only depend on tertiary care, which is very far away from the rural areas. He also stated that there are less number of medical colleges in Uttar Pradesh comparatively. However, the Gorakhpur tragedy led to more funds allocation to the hospital and even AIIMS was inaugurated in the district.

Talking about improving the health sector, he said that my aim is that Right to Health should become a law so that any person, irrespective of gender, caste, religion, disability, socio-economic status or anything, gets access to good healthcare in the country. Rajasthan has passed it and people should be able to get treated within 3-5 km of their home.

However, he stated that the challange of quacks is a concern because they are available round the clock. He added that the expenditure on health has to be increased and we have to spend at least 5 percent of our GDP. Even PHC should be run round the clock. People are loosing their trust in doctors because of these quacks and because of unnecessary medications and investigations by the corporate sector. Also, if the access to Primary Healthcare is easier, people won't fall for quacks and worsen their health.