Anger and dismay ran high across the country as 30 children, many of them newborns died in 2 days at the Baba Raghav Das Medical college in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur, taking the total to 60 in the last five days. While a political blame game took off within hours, the UP government immediately suspended the principal of the college and denied that a snag in oxygen supply caused all the deaths. The deaths were attributed to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome, infection and liver failure. Although lack of cleanliness and hygiene were cited to be the primary cause, there were no post-mortems conducted before the final rites. The decision to cut off oxygen by the vendor is undoubtedly an inhumane act as the plug was pulled out knowing well that it will snuff out innocent lives. The hospital lost oxygen supply between 11.30 pm to 1.30 am on Friday. What needs to be looked into is how the hospital kept mum over its outstanding payment of Rs 68 lakhs to oxygen suppliers. Even a warning by pipeline operators on Thursday morning of low reserves was ignored. CM Yogi Adityanath who represented the eastern UP city for almost two decades in Parliament said it was a lack of cleanliness and hygiene that resulted in these deaths. Gorakhpur has a history of children's deaths with around 25,000 kids dying in the last four decades. When the government is propagating Modi's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan across the nation, the mismatch between rhetoric and reality stands exposed in the Gorakhpur case. This is an institution where hygiene could really make a difference.
