Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath should leave the election campaign for the ongoing bypolls in the state and focus on the poor condition of healthcare infrastructure and medical facilities.

He also said that the Bharatiya Janata Party government should pay Rs 1 crore ‘samvednaa raashi’ to all the bereaved families, who have lost their children in the tragedy at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Jhansi Medical College and added that “Gorakhpur should not be repeated”.

The former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, however, did not elaborate about Gorakhpur in his post on X.

 “The news of 10 children dying and many children getting injured due to fire in Jhansi medical college is extremely sad and worrying. Heartfelt tributes to everyone,” Yadav said in his post on X in Hindi.

“The cause of the fire is being said to be a fire in the ‘oxygen concentrator’. This is a direct case of negligence of medical management and administration or of poor-quality oxygen concentrator. Punitive action should be taken against all those responsible in this case. The chief minister should leave the election campaign and false claims of ‘everything being fine’ and focus on the poor condition of health and medical facilities,” he said.

Yadav said “only the families who have lost their children can understand the pain and suffering”.

“This is not only a governmental responsibility, but also a moral responsibility. It is hoped that those involved in electoral politics will get it investigated honestly in this hour of family disaster and will bring about radical changes in their so-called health and medical ministry from top to bottom,” he added.

Taking pot-shots at UP Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, who also holds the medical and health portfolio, Yadav said, “As for the ‘health and medical minister’ of UP, there is nothing to say to him because it is because of him that the health and medical system in UP has deteriorated so much today. The minister, who is busy making low-level comments of narrow-communal politics, may not even remember that he is the ‘health and medical minister’. He neither has any power nor any willpower, he just has a plaque with his name on it.’

“First of all, the UP BJP government should provide world-class medical facilities to all the children suffering from burn injuries and give Rs 1 crore each as condolence money to all the bereaved families who have lost their children. Gorakhpur should not be repeated,” he added.

Reacting to the incident, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati said the government must help the affected families in every possible way.

“The extremely sad incident of the death of 10 infants due to fire in Maharani Laxmibai Medical College, Jhansi, UP, has naturally caused uproar and anger. Strict legal punishment is necessary for the culprits for such fatal negligence. It is impossible to compensate for such incidents, yet the government must help the affected families in every possible way,” she said in a post on X in Hindi.

The Congress demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident and strict action against the culprits.

“The news of the death of 10 newborn babies and injuries to many due to a fire in the special newborn care unit of Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College, Jhansi, is extremely heart-wrenching. We pray for peace to the souls of the deceased children, strength to their families and speedy recovery of the injured,” the Congress’ Uttar Pradesh unit said in a post on X.

“The cause of the incident is said to be sparking in the oxygen concentrator. After all, how can such negligence happen in such a sensitive ward? This is the failure of the hospital, the Health department and the health minister. We demand from the government that a judicial inquiry be conducted into the incident and strict action be taken against the culprits,” the party said.

BJP ally Rashtriya Lok Dal also demanded a thorough probe into the incident.

“It is a moment of grief for the families, who have lost their children in the tragic incident in Jhansi medical college. The entire RLD family is standing with them. The matter should be thoroughly probed, and the guilty person(s) should not be spared,” RLD spokesperson Anil Dube said.

At least 10 children died in the fire that engulfed the children’s ward of the medical college hospital while 16 others injured battled for life on Saturday. According to Jhansi District Magistrate Avinash Kumar, the fire broke out around 10:45 pm on Friday in the NICU of the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College hospital possibly due to an electrical short circuit.

 The children, who were in the outer part of the NICU, were rescued along with some of those who were in the interior part.

The Uttar Pradesh state secretariat of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) also expressed deep sorrow over the death of 10 children in a fire in the pediatric ward of Maharani Laxmibai Medical College in Jhansi district. The party expressed deep condolences to the families of the deceased children and held the medical administration and the state government responsible for this gross negligence in the hospital system.

"Foolproof arrangements should be made to avoid such incidents at sensitive places like hospitals. This case shows administrative negligence as well as the weakness and neglect of the government system," the party said and demanded a fair investigation into the incident and strict punishment to those responsible for the incident. The party also demanded compensation to the families of the victims.

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) expressed deep grief, condolences and anger over the burning of 10 children in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of Jhansi medical college hospital late on Friday night.

CPI (ML) state secretary Sudhakar Yadav said that the heart-wrenching incident had exposed the gross negligence of the Health department and taking responsibility for it, the health minister should resign.

The CPI (ML) leader said that the Jhansi incident reminded of the BRD Medical College hospital incident in Gorakhpur in 2017 in which 33 children had died as there was no oxygen in the hospital.

He said the families of the deceased children should be given compensation of Rs. 25 lakh each instead of Rs. 5 lakh.