A specialised team sent by the Uttar Pradesh government's health department to probe the deaths of 49 children in Farrukhabad district hospital has submitted its report, state's health minister Siddharth Nath Singh today said.
In a virtual replay of the tragedy in Gorakhpur, the fatalities were reported early this month, 30 in neo-natal ICU (NICU) and 19 during delivery, between July 20 and August 21, with many of the parents alleging there was a delay in providing the infants with oxygen and medicines.
"The Director General of Medical and Health Services (UP) has submitted the probe report. I'm here in Delhi, so I will get it on Saturday," he told PTI on the sidelines of an event here.
The state government has already removed Farrukhabad District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar as well as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Umakant Pandey and Chief Medical Superintendent (CMS) Akhilesh Agarwal in connection with the case.
Principal Secretary (Health) Prashant Trivedi, after he reporting of the deaths, had said that they had "nothing to do with oxygen supply".
The Director General Medical Health would give a detailed report on the deaths, he had said.
Singh, earlier addressing the valedictory session at 10th Medical Technology Conference today, referring to the deaths at the BRD College hospital, said, "We feel the pain, and certainly a person like me, who is sensitise, I also do feel the pain. No children should die."
He shared that even the prime minister was getting alarmed after the reporting of the deaths, and at "midnight I got a call from him".
Singh, in his address also took a veiled jibe at the previous state governemnts, and said, posting of doctors through bribe and influence was a "flourishing business" which he has stopped after assuming charge.
"The UP government in next two months will come out with a project, whereby command and control centres would be set up at the five clusters spread across the state. This would also boost the primary and community health centres, especially for rural areas," Singh said.
He said villagers in remote areas would be able to connect to control centres through telephone and doctors receiving the calls would be able to prescribe simple medicines.
"If the ailment does not go away, doctors will prescribe antibiotics which would be made available to them at primary healthcare centres. Even then if the problem doesn't go away, the patient will be shifted to the district hospital for further treatment," he added.
The minister said that his government was taking every step to prevent recurrence of Gorakhpur-like tragic incidents.
He assured that every possible steps was being taken to ensure a higher degree of transparency in the system. "There would be a red carpet and not red-tapism for you. So, I invite you (investors in medical technology) to invest in the state.
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