Introduction

There have been 105 deaths in the last 11 days in the state-run Baba Raghav Das Medical College in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh has left the nation in a huge despair, making us all question the integrity of the hospital authorities. So many innocent children were left at the mercy of God while the administration was busy making money off the plight of these helpless souls. Can this huge tragedy be really a result of multiple encephalitis deaths or the true reason behind it is something else altogether?

Heights of Negligence

The hospital staff has been on the news ever since the death toll started rising under their watch. And when the situation got out of hand, it resulted in the suspension of the college principal Mr. RK Mishra on 12th of August after which, he resigned. On the very next day, the head of the paediatric department, Kafeel Khan was also removed from his post of the nodal officer on account of ‘negligent behaviour’. The initial reports have removed the charges of negligence from the above mentioned officers but certain administration charges are certainly in order. Apparently, due to non-payment of dues by the hospital, the supplier stopped supplying oxygen tanks to them resulting in limited amount of oxygen availability at the time of need. Further inquiries have established that the poor infrastructure and terrible management are also the reasons behind this catastrophe. On top of that, only 60% positions in the paediatric department are filled that led them to treat twice as many patients with only half the manpower available. With such awful facilities, nothing could have stopped this tragedy from happening.

A Case of Corruption?

When this whole event came to light, it was found that not only did the hospital paid the dues late, but they only used Rs. 11 lakh to pay the oxygen supplier against Rs. 2 Crore that were sanctioned to them by the CM Yogi Adityanath. This practice of seeking commission over every payment made resulted in the shortage of oxygen supply at the hospital. Few doctors were even found using the oxygen cylinders for their private practices. This corrupt mentality rooted so deep in the minds of these doctors has now become the main reason of this huge massacre. Medical facilities in UP have always been termed ‘degraded’ and no matter how hard the authorities try to improve them, it cannot be improved unless strict steps are taken to curb this greediness of the authorities in power.

Conclusion

Many innocent children died at the hands of those who were supposed to give them a new life. The greediness suddenly became more valuable than the life of an individual and as Kailash Satyarthi rightly said, a massacre took place. If only the people could think above money, above the materialism in life and for once, follow humanity, then not only could this incident have been avoided, but the quality of medical facilities available that help the needy during hard times could also be upgraded.