Lucknow: As many as thirty children have died in Gorakhpur in the past 36 hours due to lack of oxygen at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College.
District magistrate Rajeev Rautela admitted to the deaths, but said most were due to encephalitis. “It’s normal for 10 deaths to take place in encephalitis and neo-natal wards,” he said.
Sources said 23 children died on Thursday and seven more on Friday. The state government later issued a statement claiming that shortage of oxygen was not the reason for the deaths. The government’s spokesperson blamed the media, particularly television channels, for spreading misinformation.
The spokesman claimed that only seven deaths had taken place due to medical reasons. Doctors at BRD Medical College said the company that supplied liquid oxygen to the hospital — Pushpa Sales — had stopped the supply after its pending bills amounting to Rs 66 lakh were not cleared. The oxygen supply went dry on Thursday night.
The liquid oxygen plant at the college had been installed two years ago and piped oxygen supply was given to 300 patients at a time. On Friday, after the plant went dry, doctors used ambu bags to supply oxygen but it could not be given beyond two hours.
The company had sent repeated reminders about the oxygen supply to the government hospital authorities and the medical college — considered one among the state’s biggest. The doctors said the technician at the hospital had also informed the authorities of dipping oxygen levels, but no heed was paid.
When contacted UP minister for medical education Ashutosh Tandon said he did not have any information about the deaths.
