LUCKNOW: Two years after he was suspended from Gorakhpur 's BRD Medical College, a departmental inquiry against paediatrician Dr Kafeel Khan has absolved him of the charges of medical negligence, corruption and not performing his duty to the fullest on the day more than 60 lives were lost at the hospital due to oxygen shortage in August 2017. The report was handed over to him on Thursday by BRD officials.

Kafeel had spent nine mon- ths behind bars for the charges of which he has now been absolved of. Out on bail, he continues to be suspended from the institute. He has demanded a CBI probe into the incident.

T he report was submitted on April 18 by investigating officer Himanshu Kumar, principal secretary (stamps & registration department), to UP's medical education department. Kafeel has blamed the government for keeping him in the dark for five months.

The 15-page report, a copy of which is with TOI, says Kafeel wasn't guilty of negligence and that he had made all efforts to control the situation on the night of August 10-11, 2017. It says he had informed his senio- rs of the oxygen shortage and also provided seven oxygen cylinders in his personal capacity .

The report, however, notes that Kafeel was involved in private practice till August 2016 but not after that. As per the investigation report, Kafeel was not the nodal medical officer in charge of the encephalitis ward at BRD and that the documents contesting the same provided by the department were "inadequate and inconsistent."

