Court orders state officials to submit investigation report

The shockingly huge number deaths—121 on two instances—of children at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath Yogi’s pet borough Gorakhpur’s BRD Medical College and Hospital has drawn nine PILs to the Allahabad High Court. The court too has been extremely concerned and taken action.

The court on Thursday (August 31) directed the Secretary of Uttar Pradesh State Legal Services Authority to inspect the facilities of the hospital of BRD Medical College. The court also asked the secretary to submit the report of the investigation into the deaths on September 12 when the hearing has been listed.

The number 121 pales in comparison when the total number of deaths in all of August is taken into consideration: 290. This was revealed by PK Singh, principal of the medical college. He has said that 213 deaths occurred in the neonatal ICU and 77 in the encephalitis ward. While more have died due to encephalitis, more shocking was the death of 30 children due to lack of oxygen.

The high court has also instructed the doctors’ team to work on a war footing in the treatment of the life-threatening encephalitis.

These instructions were given by a division bench headed by Chief Justice DB Bhosale.

The petitions have sought a judicial inquiry headed by a retired judge into the deaths.

—India Legal Bureau