A state run hospital in the constituency of Chief Minster Yogi Adityanath; Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh recently saw a horrific tragedy involving the death of 30 children in the span of just over a day (about 63 over a five day period). This has made national headlines and obviously people are now asking for accountability. Also in the news is one Dr Kafeel Khan. We look at what happened and why:
Reportedly about 30 children (as many as 63 over a five day period) died at the Baba Raghav Das Medical Colleges hospital within a period of a day or two. Sources said that this happened because of a lack of liquid oxygen cylinders in the hospital.
The principal of the medical college had not made payment to the oxygen supplier, said UP health minister Siddharth Nath Singh, clearly wishing to side-step any blame. He then went on to say that the children had died due to their illness and not due to lack of oxygen; that they would have died even if oxygen had been available.
This is a vector borne disease (like malaria and dengue it is spread by mosquitoes) that claims hundreds of lives each year. Over 6,000 children have died from the disease since it was first detected. The disease has a 20-25% mortality rate and even from those who survive, many do not make a full recovery.
As is usually in the case of a public tragedy; especially one that appears to have been caused by callous neglect and apathy, the blame game has started here as well. While the state health minister said the principal was responsible, for his part, the principal lay the blame at the government’s door. The authorities promptly suspended principal Dr. Rajeev Misra, saying that he was responsible for the delay in paying for oxygen cylinders. However Misra said that he had been asking for funds and had not received them; which is what caused the delay in payment.
In the midst of the details emerging about the horrific tragedy, reports about the personal efforts of a pediatrician at the BRD medical college have come to light. When the oxygen supplies started to run low on 10th August, Dr Kafeel Khan reportedly approached various other medical facilities to borrow oxygen cylinders to bolster exhausted supplies. He also paid an local supplier and bought more oxygen cylinders.
Since the story of Dr Kafeel Khan went viral on social media, he has been removed from his post as nodal officer for the encephalitis ward. According to Director general, medical education, K K Gupta, there was sufficient stock of cylinders (52) in the hospital and there was no need to “manage” them from outside. Dr Khan is accused of dereliction of duty and of running a private clinic while also holding down a government job. It is also alleged that he was guilty of impersonating a doctor and misbehaving with a woman in the past.
Dr Khan has said that this is a smear campaign against him. Other Delhi doctors have also said that someone had to held responsible for the tragedy and that the doctor is therefore being made a scapegoat. However, further reports suggest that Dr Khan along with the deposed Dr Misra were primarily responsible for the oxygen cylinder shortage in the first place and were aware of the outstanding debt to the supplier. So is he a fraud made a hero by social media or hero made into a scapegoat?
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