Kafeel Khan pens his version of Gorakhpur’s hospital tragedy

When asked if the book is timed keeping in mind the UP elections, Khan said he has been writing the book for a long time

Kafeel Khan, the doctor embroiled in the Gorakhpur hospital incident controversy, on Friday released his book on the subject. Titled 'The Gorakhpur Hospital Tragedy, A Doctor’s Memoir of a Deadly Medical Crisis', the memoir projects Khan’s version of the incident and subsequent developments that have kept him tangled ever since.

On Friday, Khan tweeted, “Announcing the publication of my book, an honest, heartfelt account of the terrible events of 10 Aug 2017 & after. I dedicate it to all the parents who lost their children in the tragedy. Yeh kitab un 63 bachchon aur 18 vyasakon ko samarpit hai (This book is dedicated to those 63 children and 18 adults).”

“I thought of giving readers facts and evidence. This is not only the story about me. It’s about kids and adults who died, and about families who are waiting for justice,” Khan told DH. The book, claims Khan, has stories that expose the system’s failures and expose “real culprits”.

“The Gorakhpur Hospital Tragedy is Kafeel Khan’s first-hand chronicle of the events of that fateful night in August 2017 and the gut-wrenching turmoil that followed – a suspension without end, an eight-month-long incarceration and a relentless fight for justice in the face of extreme apathy and persecution,” a note shared from Khan’s end, states.

When asked if the book is timed keeping in mind the Uttar Pradesh elections, Khan said that he has been writing the book for a long time. “The most important (point the book talks about) is the broken health system. The system collapsed. It also talks about doctors’ struggle. The poor and the marginalised community depend on public hospitals. I have talked about the public health system,” he said.

Born in Gorakhpur, Khan had completed his MBBS and MD from Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, in Karnataka. He was suspended from Baba Raghav Das Medical College’s Nehru Hospital after the August 2017 incident. With jail terms in between and after a long legal battle, Khan was terminated from service in November this year. There are still pending cases against him in lower cases.

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