Gorakhpur’s BRD Medical College has registered the death of 290 children this August. Out of the dead children, 213 died in neo natal ICU whereas, 77 children lost their lives in encephalitis ward. The number of dead children was announced by the principal, PK Singh.
Adding to his statement, PK Singh said that as many as 1250 children have died since January this year. Majority of these deaths have been reported in neo natal, infants and encephalitis wards. Speaking to the reporters, he stated that the number of deaths was January 152 (143 in NICU and nine in encephalitis ward), in February it was 122 (117 and five), in March 159 (141 and 18), in April 123 (114 and nine), May 139 (127 and 12), June 137 (125 and 12), July 128 (95 and 33) and August 290 (213 and 77).
Defending the hospital, the principal said that often, the hospital gets children in very serious conditions. These conditions arise from reasons such as premature delivery, pneumonia, encephalitis, jaundice and other infectious diseases. He added that the hospital can save a lot of lives if the patients here are brought earlier.
The hospital has been under news since the beginning of August after the alleged non-payment for liquid oxygen had taken over 70 lives in the first week. The news had become a big headline and the principal of the college was suspended as well as a high-level enquiry was ordered to look into the possible causes. The opposition across the nation united to criticise BJP governments in UP and the state.
Yogi Adityanath has clarified his stance on the matter and said that the government is doing everything possible to tackle these deaths, however, he added that the hospital sees thousands of patients every day from as far as Bihar and Nepal. According to him, the patients coming to BRD medical college are often very critical and that has been one of the reasons behind the high number of deaths visible on the paper.