Gorakhpur Hospital tragedy: Cong demands resignation of CM Yogi

Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh), Aug. 12 (ANI): The Congress on Saturday demanded Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh's resignations, blaming the state government for its sheer failure in providing proper medical facilities to the patients in time, which led to death of 64 in Gorakhpur's Baba Raghav Das Medical College. Talking to media here, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "We are deeply saddened by the incident. The incident has left the whole nation in grief. What happened here was due to lapse on the Uttar Pradesh government. Adityanath and Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh should immediately resign from their post." Azad asserted that the Uttar Pradesh Government should apologize to the whole nation in regard to the same. "Gorakhpur is the constituency of CM Adityanath. Considering, he is both the MP and CM, he must take moral responsibility and should resign. Same goes for Health Minister. Doctors are responsible for the incident," he said. The Congress leader further informed that the suppliers who provide liquid oxygen were not given payment on time. "Suppliers were not given money on time. Around 70 lakhs were due for payment," he added. Azad further said that Congress party had spent crores rupees to provide medical facilities in the hospital during the time of its ruling. As many as 64 lives have been lost so far due to alleged disruption in the supply of liquid oxygen in the hospital. The shortage of oxygen allegedly led to encephalitis, which is a sudden onset inflammation of the brain, following which the children died. On Friday, it was reported that as many as 30 children lost their lives due to encephalitis in a span of 48 hours at the hospital. Gorakhpur DM Rajeev Rautela said that the cause of the deaths at the BRD Hospital was the disruption in the supply of liquid oxygen and further appealed to the suppliers to not cut the supply henceforth. Following this report, the Uttar Pradesh Government jumped in defence of the medical college, while also assuring that the District Magistrate has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident and the report will be out in 24 hours. Meanwhile, according to data procured from the BRD hospital, in past five days - from August 7 to August 11, a total of 60 deaths have occurred in the hospital. The procured data also shows the number of oxygen cylinders sent for refilling each day, showing a clear shortage of liquid oxygen in the hospital. (ANI)