55 kids die in UP hospital in 4 days

Children continue to die at the BRD Medical College Hospital in Gorakhpur, the native city of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

As many as 55 children have died at the hospital in the past four days, according to official sources. Of these, 29 died in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) alone.

Sources said the children died of encephalitis and other diseases.

According to sources, 65 children had been admitted to the NICU between November 1 and 3 of whom 22 died during treatment. Around 178 children had been admitted to the paediatric ICU in the same period, sources said, adding that 21 children died during treatment.

According to sources, around 1,900 children have died from various diseases, mostly encephalitis, at the medical college hospital, since January this year.

Doctors say most children were admitted in a serious condition and hence the high number of deaths. ''BRD Medical College is the only specialised centre in this region and patients are brought here from some neighbouring districts in Bihar and Nepal besides nearby UP districts,'' said a doctor.

In September, 30 children had died in two days, apparently owing to shortage of oxygen at the medical college hospital.

The then principal of the medical college Dr R K Mishra and six others were suspended and arrested. An inquiry into the matter, however, ruled out lack of oxygen as a cause of deaths.

Adityanath had later blamed the doctors for the deaths from encephalitis saying that there was lack of sincerity in their efforts to find a cure.

As the deaths triggered a nationwide outrage, the UP government promised to improve the situation by augmenting facilities not only in at BRD Medical College but also at other hospitals across the state.

The opposition parties accused the Yogi Adityanath government of turning a blind eye to children's deaths and demanded the resignation of the health minister.

The officials, however, said that the number of deaths had declined in comparison to the previous years. In 2015, a total of 6,121 children had died at the hospital. The figure stood at 6,917 in 2015 and 5,850 in 2014.