Gorakhpur tragedy: Dr Kafeel Khan gets clean chit

More than two years after the death of over 60 children owing to lack of oxygen at Gorakhpur Medical College, Dr. Kafeel Khan, an accused in the case, who spent nine months in jail, has been given a clean chit by an official inquiry.

Khan, who had been suspended after the tragedy, sought an apology from the state government and demanded that he be reinstated forthwith.

According to the sources, the report of the inquiry had been submitted in April this year but the officials preferred to keep it under the wrap for almost five months for reasons best known to themselves. ''The report was submitted in April but it was given to Khan on Thursday,'' said an official preferring anonymity.

More than 60 children had died allegedly owing to lack of oxygen at the medical college hospital in August 2017. A preliminary probe found the principal of the medical college and seven others, including Khan, guilty of negligence.

Khan was later arrested and spent nine months in jail before being enlarged on bail. The court had directed the state government to hand over the copy of the inquiry report four months after it was completed.

''I was hounded by the government...I had to suffer a lot...my family was humiliated...the probe has found that I was not at fault,'' Khan said in Gorakhpur.

Dr. Khan had also written to the Indian Medical Association (IMA) seeking to draw its attention to the ''trauma and sufferings'' by him and his family.

''We are financially broken after a long legal battle and suspension...the government-sponsored victimisation continues while I am struggling to survive,'' he wrote in his letter to the IMA earlier this year.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had attributed the death of children to the ''internal politics'' of the doctors at the medical college. He had also said that the Gorakhpur incident had been blown out of proportion owing to the ''internal politics'' of the doctors and claimed that there was no shortage of oxygen in the hospital.

Around 60 children, including many newborn, had died within a period of four days at the medical college hospital in August 2017 in Gorakhpur, the home town of Adityanath. The tragedy had triggered widespread outrage and the state government had invited flak from several quarters.