32 children, including infants die in Gorakhpur's BRD hospital due to oxygen disruption

In a heart-wrenching incident, at least 32 children including new born babies died at Baba Raghav Das Medical College hospital in Gorakhpur due to oxygen disruption over non-payments of dues.

Out of 32, 19 children died in the neo-natal ward, 5 in AES (acute encephalitis syndrome) ward and 8 in the general ward.

It is being said that oxygen supply was disrupted by the provider because of non-payment of dues worth Rs. 69 lakhs despite several reminders. According to the sources, technicians had informed hospital authorities about the shortage of oxygen but it fell on deaf ears.

The incident put a big question mark on the state BJP government as the hospital is in chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s constituency and he even visited the hospital just two days ago to review its functioning. But despite his visit, no adequate majors were taken to ensure the safety of children.

The state govt has blamed the hospital for the negligence and said a thorough probe has been ordered into the incident. Meanwhile, district officials have reached the hospital to investigate the matter.

Here are the highlights:

# 2 more children died in BRD hospital. Death toll reaches to 32.

# Deeply pained. My thoughts are with the families of the victims.BJP govt is responsible & should punish the negligent, who caused this tragedy: Rahul Gandhi

#  A total number of 60 deaths have occurred in the past 5 days: Baba Raghav Das Medical College and Hospital

#UttarPradesh A total number of 60 deaths have occurred in the past 5 days: Baba Raghav Das Medical College and Hospital #Gorakhpur pic.twitter.com/K8yBBRkrFV

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) August 11, 2017

# UP Congress President Raj Babbar will visit Gorakhpur on Saturday.

# Deaths were not caused due to oxygen disruption, a magisterial probe has been ordered: Chief Secretary to CM Rajeev Kumar

# UP CM Adityanath has summoned Medical education minister Ashutosh Tandon.

# What media has reported it does not appear same to us. A final picture will be clear after a report on it comes: State Health Minister Siddharthnath Singh

# Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is taking a meeting on the issue. CM is taking information on phone from concerned officials. Action on Medical College's administration likely.

# Government should announce compensation of 20 lakh each for deaths, says Akhilesh Yadav 

# Government is responsible for death of children, strong action should be taken, says Akhilesh Yadav

# A hospital doctor while speaking to reporters has exposed state government's lie and confirmed the deaths were caused due to oxygen disruption.  

# The state government has claimed that deaths of 30 children were caused due to medical reasons and not oxygen disruption. 

# Yogi government responsible for the deaths of children, strict action should be taken against the culprits, 20 lakh Rs. compensation should be given to the families of deceased children: Akhilesh Yadav

गोरखपुर मे आक्सीजन की कमी से बच्चों की दर्दनाक मौत , सरकार ज़िम्मेदार।कठोर कार्यवाही हो, 20-20 लाख का मुआवज़ा दे सरकार ।

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) August 11, 2017

# Maximum deaths were reported from the Neonatal and Encephalitis wards.

# Gorakhpur DM Rajeev Rautela claims that payment of Rs. 35 lakhs was made to the oxygen supplier firm.

# Will act against the culprits behind the incident: UP Cabinet Minister Omprakash Rajbhar

# UP CM Yogi Adityanath had also visited the hospital just two days ago to review hospital's functioning.

# District officials have reached the hospital for investigating the matter.

30 children die in #Gorakhpur's BRD hospital due to disruption in #oxygen supply pic.twitter.com/WIkY1SAQTa

— News Nation (@NewsNationTV) August 11, 2017

# Supply of liquid oxygen was disrupted yesterday due to pending payment. Requested suppliers not to disrupt supply: Gorakhpur DM Rajeev Rautela

# Total 30 deaths in last 48 hours: DM Rajeev Rautela on death of children in Gorakhpur's Baba Raghav Das Medical College

# 30 children die in Gorakhpur's BRD hospital due to disruption in oxygen supply

30 children die in Gorakhpur's #BRDhospital due to disruption in oxygen supply pic.twitter.com/jigzZOIcqT

— News Nation (@NewsNationTV) August 11, 2017

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Gorakhpur is the constituency of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. As per reports, 59 children were admitted in the ICU out of which 30 died in last two days.

The Baba Raghav Das Medical College and Hospital (BRD) is among the best hospitals in the state and infamous for such horrific deaths. Last year, 224 children were died due to the dreaded disease encephalitis. According to Government records, 920 patients of encephalitis have been admitted to BRD Medical College hospital between January to September last year in which 224 kids had lost their lives.

What is encephalitis?

Encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain tissue caused by is viral infections and in some cases by bacteria or even fungi.

There are two major types of this deadly disease. In primary encephalitis, it infects the brain and spinal cord of patients and another type occurs after infections in other parts of the body and then travels to patient's brain.