Oxygen supply records fudged, Kafeel Khan let off: Report on Gorakhpur case

Gorakhpur child deaths case: The oxygen log book was not inspected or signed

A probe by the local administration into the deaths of 71 children in Gorakhpur between August 10 and 14 from encephalitis, reveals that there was overwriting in the log book containing the details of purchase and refilling of oxygen cylinders at the Baba Raghav Das Hospital.

Gorakhpur District Magistrate Rajeev Rautela in his report blamed firm Pushpa Sales, Principal RK Mishra, Anesthesia Department head Dr Satish responsible for the entire episode.

The accused in DM's report: 
 

Pushpa sales - was responsible for oxygen supply
 

R K Mishra - BRD Medical College's principal was absent on August 10
 

Satish Kumar - Head of the anaesthesia department was also absent from the college on August 10. Kumar was the person responsible for ensuring that there was a continuous flow of oxygen to the hospital wards.
 

Gajanan Jaiswal - chief pharmacist

Satish Kumar and Gajanan Jaiswal reportedly did not maintain the records of oxygen cylinder purchases. The log book was allegedly not inspected or signed by Kumar. According to TOI, there are multiple instances of overwriting in the stock book of oxygen cylinder at the BRD hospital.

Rajeev Rautela's report does not indict Kafeel Khan, the head paediatrician who has been sacked by the hospital. It did, however, say that there were gaps in coordination between four top doctors including Khan.

Lack of Oxygen caused the deaths

According to the report, some deaths were caused due to lack of oxygen. The Uttar Pradesh government has, however, dismissed this reason. On Saturday, health minister Siddharth Nath Singh had said that while oxygen supply had indeed fallen on 10 August, the situation had been brought under control within a few hours. On Wednesday however, he told reporters that "Any death due to oxygen shortage is a heinous crime... any laxity on this front is also a crime."

PIL filed seeking judicial inquiry

In view of this Rajeev Rautela's report, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Allahabad High Court in connection with the Gorakhpur deaths seeking a judicial inquiry into the matter and restraining doctors of the hospital from private practice.

The petitioners have blamed the deaths on "carelessness" of the doctors at the hospital and further contended that although encephalitis claims many young lives every year there were no effective measures to contain the outbreak of the vector-borne disease.

The petitioners also prayed for directions so that stern punishment was meted out to those held responsible for the deaths.