His efforts didn't go in vain but he saw 60 children die gasping for air in front of him.

When Gorakhpur's Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College was in shambles over its rude awakening to the fast depleting oxygen supply, one man tried to save as many lives as possible. But he has now been removed from all hospital duties.

Dr Kafeel Khan has been removed as the Nodal Officer for BRD Medical College's Department of Pediatrics, and replaced by Dr Bhupendra Sharma, ANI reported.

On the intervening night of August 11, Dr Kafeel Khan, child specialist and doctor in-charge of the encephalitis ward, received a frantic call from the hospital, informing him that all oxygen would soon dry up.

Well aware that patients of encephalitis wouldn't survive without continuous oxygen supply, Dr Khan rushed to nearby hospitals to borrow cylinders for some critical patients.

The first hospital he sought help from gave him three cylinders, which he immediately drove to BRD.

Khan then made several such trips to various hospitals nearby to borrow oxygen cylinders till the next morning.

By Friday morning, the oxygen supply had almost trickled down to zero. Ahmed then instructed his junior staff to pump oxygen through ambu bags (a self-inflating bag).

DOCTOR BEARS EXPENSES

All the while, Dr Khan continued to reach out to his doctor friends in other hospitals and local vendors to send some oxygen cylinders.

He did manage to collect 12 oxygen cylinders. Soon after, he received a call from a local supplier promising to send cylinders but only in exchange for cash payments.

Dr Khan then handed over his debit card to one of his juniors and asked him to withdraw cash to make the payment at the earliest.

His efforts didn't go in vain but he saw 60 children die gasping for air in front of him.

With inputs from Shivendra Shrivastav

ALSO READ

Yogi Adityanath breaks down in Gorakhpur, says guilty will not be spared

Gorakhpur has a history of children's deaths, 25,000 kids have lost lives to encephalitis

Gorakhpur, Kumbakonam mishaps separated by oxygen, fire but are they different?

ALSO WATCH

Inside Gorakhpur's BRD hospital, the scene of a tragedy that claimed 68 lives