Farrukhabad tragedy: UP govt denies lack of oxygen caused 49 child deaths

The UP government on Monday said that no action will be initiated on the basis of the FIR lodged against the CMO and CMS of the Farrukhabad district hospital in the case related to deaths of scores of infants there.

“The way things have been presented is not that has happened.

“No action is, therefore, being initiated on the basis of the FIR registered against the CMO and the CMS in Farrukhabad last night,” principal secretary health Prashant Trivedi told reporters at a hurriedly convened press briefing.

“For us it is a report, we will examine it for further action,” he said.

To a question on removal of Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Umakant Pandey and Chief Medical Superintendent (CMS) Akhilesh Agarwal, Trivedi said, “They have been removed for the simple reason that the DM is the head of administration in a district and they should have co-ordinated with the DM.

“If there were any issues, then the same should had been brought to the notice of the administration. What happened actually - medically or technically - will be clear in probe.”

On whether the deaths were due to lack of oxygen, he said, “Oxygen is not an issue in the entire episode. I think, of late, we are generating undue sensitivity to oxygen. It has become more of a buzzword.”

He also said that no official can elicit the views of a person over telephone. “This is not the right way to conduct a magisterial probe,” Trivedi said, commenting on the city magistrate contacting over telephone the parents and relatives of the infants who had died.

Principal secretary (Information) Awanish Awasthi, who was also present, said, “Everything will be brought forth...  There seems to be some co-ordinational issue among the officers.

“All the three officers—DM, CMO and CMS—have been removed. DG Health will send a specialised team to investigate. No death took place due to lack of oxygen. The matter should not be blown out of proportion.”

On the FIR, he said it was lodged and “it very clearly seems to have been lodged when the DM, it seems, did not get the report from the health department...”