Over 60 children died at the hospital within five days last month due to alleged lack of oxygen supply. (Express photo by Vishal Srivastav)
FOLLOWING THE arrest of the former principal of Gorakhpur’s BRD Medical College and Hospital and his wife, police on Friday obtained non-bailable warrants against seven other accused booked for the deaths of over 60 children at the hospital within five days last month due to alleged lack of oxygen supply.
The seven have been absconding since a state government inquiry report held them guilty of corruption, irregularities and medical negligence. They are Dr Kafeel Khan (in charge of Ward 100 where the deaths were reported), Dr Satish Kumar (head of anesthesia department and responsible for maintaining oxygen supply at the hospital), chief pharmacist Gajanan Jaiswal, clerks Uday Pratap Sharma, Sanjay Kumar Tripathi and Sudhir Kumar Pandey and Manish Bhandari, the proprietor of M/S Pushpa Sales, the firm supplying the liquid oxygen to the hospital.
“We have obtained NBWs today from a local court in Gorakhpur. If they remain untraceable, we will move court for further instructions in order to take strict action against them,” said Gorakhpur SSP Satyarth Aniruddh Pankaj. “Police have been conducting raids at the houses and hideouts of these accused, but none have been traced till now… The police have gathered enough evidence against them,” he added. PAC personnel have been deployed on the medical college campus to maintain law and order, said the SSP.
Investigating Officer of the case and Cantonment area Circle Officer Abhishek Kumar Singh said that four police teams have been set up to trace the accused. “The teams have left for different destinations in UP… The Special Task Force is also helping in tracing the accused,” he said.
On August 29, the STF had arrested the hospital’s former principal Dr Rajeev Mishra and his wife Dr Purnima Shukla from Kanpur. Both were produced before a local court in Gorakhpur on Thursday, which sent them to jail. Shukla, the senior homoeopathic medical officer at Government Homoeopathic Hospital in Gorakhpur, was allegedly involved in the functioning of the BRD medical college.
