Children receive treatment in the Encephalitis Ward at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College Hospital in Gorakhp... Read More

LUCKNOW: UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said the issue of deaths at BRD medical college in Gorakhpur in August last year was blown out of proportion due to "internal politics" at the hospital.

Speaking at a nutrition campaign here, he said: "When I inquired about the number of deaths, I was told internal politics in the hospital had resulted in escalating the issue. The situation at the hospital was such that we had to counsel doctors to deal with the issue. I told them to focus on the cause of encephalitis and educate people about government schemes."

Yogi said, "I thought they were normal casualties that rise due to Japanese Encephalitis in a particular time of the year. But then media started reporting the number of deaths had gone up from 13 to 59."

"I decided to go there myself and came to know there was no shortage of oxygen. Had there been shortage of oxygen, the children on ventilator would have died first," Yogi said.

