Death toll mounts in Gorakhpur hospital, NHRC seeks report

New Delhi: Six new cases of encephalitis deaths were reported from the paediatric ward of BRD Medical College Hospital here since Saturday, amid fresh blame game after 60 children died in the state-run hospital over the past one week.

Even as the authorities grappled with the situation in the aftermath of the tragedy, additional director health Dr Pushkar Anand on Monday said these fresh deaths occurred between August 12 and 14.

BJP chief Amit Shah on Monday said the death of 72 children in the last week at a Gorakhpur hospital is "a tragedy, a mistake that happened at some level, but you cannot deny our aim to help," dismissing demands by opposition parties that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of his party must resign. The National Human Rights Commission has sought a report from the UP government within four weeks.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to take cognisance of the recent deaths of children at a government hospital at Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Resident doctors of the AIIMS on Monday condemned the sacking of Dr Kafeel Khan of Gorakhpur- based BRD Medical College Hospital, alleging that he had been made a "scapegoat" in the tragic incident in which 30 children had died within a span of 48 hours.

Khan, who was the nodal officer at the state-run hospital's paediatric department, had been hailed as a hero after he reportedly bought oxygen cylinders with his own money during the crisis.

"With great pain we have to say that once again a doctor has been made a scapegoat for the infrastructural lapse and failure of the government," President of the resident doctors association at AIIMS, Dr Harjit Singh Bhatti, said.