Three-member BSP delegation to take stock of Gorakhpur tragedy: Mayawati

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Aug. 12 (ANI): Dubbing the Gorakhpur Hospital deaths as 'extremely painful', Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) Chief Mayawati on Saturday strongly condemned Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the 64 tragic deaths. Mayawati told ANI, "I condemn BJP for the extremely painful incident in Gorakhpur's Baba Raghav Das Medical College (BRD) hospital, where as many as 64 lives have been lost so far due to alleged disruption in the supply of liquid oxygen in the hospital." The BSP chief called on the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government to accept their fault and should sack the concerned ministers. "Proper investigation should be conducted and should financially help the bereaved family members," said Maywati. She also apprised that her party has made three-member team who will take stock of situation at the hospital and update her on current situation in Gorakhpur Hospital. Then UP CM Akhilesh has also blamed the present state government of being non-serious towards such issues, and said what has happened is a serious matter. Akhilesh further demanded a compensation of Rs. 20 lakh each for the bereaved families. "The opposition is not indulging in politics but there is a difference between what the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) says and what it does," Akhilesh said. Similarly, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who led a delegation to the hospital earlier, 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 not 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. Union Health Minister JP Nadda has directed MoS Health and Family Welfare Anupriya Patel to visit Gorakhpur hospital. Nadda further told ANI that he has also sought report from State Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh and Medical Education Minister Ashutosh Tandon. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered a probe into the case and has assured strict action against the guilty. As many as 64 lives have been lost so far due to alleged disruption in the supply of liquid oxygen in the hospital, to which Opposition has demanded the resignation of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Siddharth Nath Singh, blaming the state government for its sheer failure in providing proper medical facilities to the patients in time. The shortage of oxygen allegedly led to encephalitis, which is a sudden onset inflammation of the brain, following which the children died. Meanwhile, four more deaths have been reported from the BRD hospital today. 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. 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. (ANI)