At least 30 children died in the state-run Baba Raghav Das Medical College in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur, the parliamentary constituency of Yogi Adityanath.

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On Friday, seven children died, three in the NICU, two from AES and two in the general ward.

On 10 August, 23 children died, with 14 deaths reported in the NICU, three from AES and six in the general ward.

The next day, on 9 August, 9 kids died, including six in NICU, two from AES and one in the general ward.

On 8 August, 12 children reportedly died, seven in NICU, three from AES and 2 in the general ward.

On 7 August, nine children died, including four in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), two from Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) and three in the general ward.

According to The Indian Express , at least 60 children died in the last five days in Baba Raghav Das Medical College.

The Telegraph also reported that the medical college sources told the newspaper that even the hospital's doctors and paramedical staff had not been paid since February.

Pushpa Sales Pvt Ltd had written a letter to the Baba Raghav Das Medical College, informing them about cutting supply of oxygen to the hospital because of unpaid bills.

Doctors were forced to keep two patients on one bed, patients' families say they are buying medicine, food from outside

The news channel also reported that the company's owner is on the run.

Oxygen supplier Pushpa Sales Co Ltd's office in Lucknow has been raided by the police, according to Times Now.

These 3,000 deaths are among the 50,000 children killed in eastern Uttar Pradesh over the past 30 years, most of them due to Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), added the report.

Hindustan Times reported that according to official data, over 3,000 children have died at the government-run hospital at BRD Medical Collegeg since 2012.

"This incident has been very shocking and it should shock us all. This government is a very sensitive government," he added.

"But no one had raised the issue of the shortage of oxygen in the hospital," Singh said.

"Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathji had visited the BRD Medical College on 9 August and had held consultations with various officials," Siddharth Nath Singh, UP health minister, said.

No one in the hospital raised the issue of low oxygen: UP health minister

"We have come to the conclusion that the deaths of children in the hospital did not take place due to shortage of gas in the hospital," Siddharth Nath Singh said. He claimed that when the death of seven children was reported during 24 hours, there was no shortage of gas cylinders.

Death of children did not take place due to shortage of gas: Siddharth Nath Singh

While Siddharth Nath Singh admitted that oxygen supply was cut off for two hours, he added that it was a usual incident which happens and was managed through cylinders.

BRD Medical College Principal, Rajiv Mishra, said that he had written his resignation even before the government sacked him and he is taking responsibility for the death of the children. He also said that the hospital had paid the gas company on time and no death happened because of low oxygen.

The sequence of events that led to the massacre of 60 children in Gorakhpur's Baba Raghav Das Medical College since 7 August is a damning indictment of the government machinery. First, it failed to pay the contractor who supplied liquid oxygen to the hospital, running up arrears in excess of over Rs 68 lakh, even when, as the supplier argued, the terms and conditions of the supply agreement said the pending amount would not exceed Rs 10 lakh.

Union Health Minister JP Nadda spoke to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and assured him of assistance from the Centre, reports ANI. The report adds that Adityanath assured Nadda that "all aspects of deaths at BRD Medical college are being examined."

Denying media reports that he had termed the incident as a "massacre" (narsanhar), Sakshi Maharaj said, "I have never said so. I said the deaths were not natural and steps should be taken to ensure that such incidents are not repeated in the future." — PTI

BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj today said 30 infants died in a Gorakhpur hospital because oxygen supply was cut off over non-payment of dues. "The deaths which took place in a Gorakhpur hospital were very saddening. The person, who switched off the oxygen supply on the pretext of non-payment of dues, was responsible for the incident," the MP from Unnao told reporters.

He added that the UP MoS Health Anupriya Patel will be visiting Gorakhpur on Sunday morning to analyse the incident.

He also said that if the deaths were in fact due to oxygen shortage, it would mean that it is a despicable incident. He said, “We have constituted a committee to be lead by the chief secretary to inquire the role of oxygen supplier in the incident.” “Anyone found guilty will not be spared,” he added.

He said that Narendra Modi expressed his concern over the incident and offered help and support to address the incident. Adityanath also discussed the cause of death of the infants, saying, “We will be getting a detailed report on the cause of deaths. Not all of them were due to lack of oxygen.” He added that he had toured the hospital twice since becoming chief minister.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath addressed the death of over 30 infants in BRD medical college in Gorakhpur through a press conference in Lucknow. He said that the incident was very unfortunate and that he was glad that the media highlighted it. “I had started the fight against Encephalitis in Gorakhpur. My thoughts are with grieving families,” he said at the presser.

The minister also questioned Mishra's trip to Rishikesh in middle of such a grave crisis. He also said that a committee has been formed under the chief secretary to probe the role of the oxygen supplier and it is expected to submit a report within a week.

"It is thus surprising that the BRD Medical College Principal Rajeev Mishra did not release it till 11 August," he said, adding that prima facie he was found callous and has hence been suspended.

According to IANS, Medical Education Minister Ashutosh Tandon said pending payments of the vendor supplying oxygen were cleared on 5 August and funds sent to the medical college.

State Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh denied that the shortage of oxygen or the disruption of the central oxygen plant at the BRD medical college had led to the deaths of children. He also attributed the deaths of children to some underweight, early delivery, sepsis, pneumonia and other infections. A few deaths, he added, happened due to encephalitis as well.

MoS Health Anupriya Patel, who arrived in Lucknow on Saturday evening, drove straight for a high-level stocktaking meeting on the tragedy. She also spoke to the media at the press conference and said that the guilty would not be spared and that the government would act "cruelly and with a firm hand" to punish callous officials.

According to CNN-News18, a father who lost his child in the BRD medical college incident said that his family was not allowed to leave immediately as the state health minister Siddartha Nath Singh was supposed to hold a press conference the hospital. He also said that the doctors mislead him into thinking that it was pneumonia and not encephalitis. He also said that there was a shortage of oxygen and that the ailing were in distress, verifying claims that it was the lack of oxygen that lead to the deaths of the infants.

"Unclean surroundings are causing the untimely death of children," he added while praising Narendra Modi for his Swacch Bharat initiative. To further distance the ruling BJP-led government from the issue, he said, "The governments cannot be the problem, they are solutions and if they are problems in themselves they have no right to continue."

Addressing a gathering at Allahabad, Adityanath told the gathering that the death of these children in his hometown was caused by filth and scourge of open defecation. "There are vector-borne diseases, such as encephalitis, you must be hearing media reports of BRD medical college these days...it is a tragedy that lives of young children have been snuffed out at such young age because we do not lead a clean and hygienic life" he said while reminding the crowd that the disease has been the bane of eastern Uttar Pradesh since 1978.

Even as a magisterial probe is underway into the death of over 60 children, including infants, at the Baba Raghav Das Medical college in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath blamed the incident on the lack of cleanliness, reports IANS.

He added that the UP MoS Health Anupriya Patel will be visiting Gorakhpur on Sunday morning to analyse the incident.

He also said that if the deaths were in fact due to oxygen shortage, it would mean that it is a despicable incident. He said, “We have constituted a committee to be lead by the chief secretary to inquire the role of oxygen supplier in the incident.” “Anyone found guilty will not be spared,” he added.

He said that Narendra Modi expressed his concern over the incident and offered help and support to address the incident. Adityanath also discussed the cause of death of the infants, saying, “We will be getting a detailed report on the cause of deaths. Not all of them were due to lack of oxygen.” He added that he had toured the hospital twice since becoming chief minister.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath addressed the death of over 30 infants in BRD medical college in Gorakhpur through a press conference in Lucknow. He said that the incident was very unfortunate and that he was glad that the media highlighted it. “I had started the fight against Encephalitis in Gorakhpur. My thoughts are with grieving families,” he said at the presser.

The minister also questioned Mishra's trip to Rishikesh in middle of such a grave crisis. He also said that a committee has been formed under the chief secretary to probe the role of the oxygen supplier and it is expected to submit a report within a week.

"It is thus surprising that the BRD Medical College Principal Rajeev Mishra did not release it till 11 August," he said, adding that prima facie he was found callous and has hence been suspended.

According to IANS, Medical Education Minister Ashutosh Tandon said pending payments of the vendor supplying oxygen were cleared on 5 August and funds sent to the medical college.

State Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh denied that the shortage of oxygen or the disruption of the central oxygen plant at the BRD medical college had led to the deaths of children. He also attributed the deaths of children to some underweight, early delivery, sepsis, pneumonia and other infections. A few deaths, he added, happened due to encephalitis as well.

MoS Health Anupriya Patel, who arrived in Lucknow on Saturday evening, drove straight for a high-level stocktaking meeting on the tragedy. She also spoke to the media at the press conference and said that the guilty would not be spared and that the government would act "cruelly and with a firm hand" to punish callous officials.

CNN-News18 spoke to Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh and he revealed that no post-mortem was done on the infants who died in BRD medical college as they "died due to their illness." He also claimed that more deaths would have occurred if there was no oxygen supply. Siddharth added that the payment was made on time and it was the hospital principal who did not pay money to oxygen supplier.

Siddharth Nath Singh says that no post-mortem was done on the deceased

At least 30 children died in the state-run Baba Raghav Das Medical College in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur, the parliamentary constituency of Uttar Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, in the last two days, an official said on Friday. The government, however, said that only seven had died and a probe has been ordered.

Gorakhpur DM Rajeev Rautela told local TV channels, confirming the "death of 30 kids in the last two days" and seven deaths in the last 24 hours.

He said that 17 children had died in the neo-natal ward, five in the ward meant for patients suffering from acute encephalitis syndrome and eight in the general ward.

Denying that the children had died due to lack of oxygen, he confirmed that there was shortage of liquid oxygen at the medical college and that due to non-payment of Rs 70 lakh, the vendor supplying oxygen has stopped supply. However, he said the principal had told him that for emergency use, alternative arrangements have been made.

He further said that part payment of Rs 35 lakh has been made to the vendor and that he had been requested not to disrupt the oxygen supply.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government denied media reports that more than 30 children had died at the hospital due to lack of oxygen.

A statement issued by the state Information Department termed reports shown by "some TV channels as misleading" and that the District Magistrate was personally stationed at the medical college to keep a vigil on the situation emanating out of the death of seven patients on Friday due to "different medical reasons".

The Uttar Pradesh government on Friday night ordered a magisterial probe. The probe will be finished in 24 hours and a detailed report submitted, said Chief Secretary Rajeev Kumar, who also put the number of deaths at seven. He also ruled out the oxygen shortage being responsible.

State Health Minister Siddarth Nath Singh told TV channels that "a lot of people come suffering from high fever and if they don't get treatment, it may result in death".

To a query if an inquiry will be ordered, he said: "Absolutely, we will do into the depth of these deaths.. we are going to check each and everything and then come with a final answer.. those who who found guilty and if we find any error on their part, they will be made accountable.."

Informed sources told IANS that senior health officials were monitoring the situation and admitted that the state government had been left red-faced because of the deaths took place in the Chief Minister's hometown. Adityanath had been in Gorakhpur just two days back and held a review meeting of healthcare, among other things.

Meanwhile, parents and attendants of patients, mostly children at the ward number 100 - the encephalitis ward at the BRD medical college — remained resigned to fate and medical negligence.

The father of an infant from Padrauna told media persons that there was acute shortage of oxygen and accused authorities of lying to the media. "I am ready to hear the worst about my child," he said amid flowing tears."

Another distraught father, Deep Chandra from Basti district also aired similar sentiments and said that for the last 48 hours, there was no oxygen supply and the children admitted here were left to die despite prayers and requests to the officials of the medical college.

Dozens of children admitted here are battling for life and in absence of proper treatment, medicines and oxygen, they have lost hope, said many others.

With inputs from IANS

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