Infighting among district officials put the Yogi Government in a quandary after the reported death of 49 children in 30 days allegedly due to lack of oxygen in State-run Ram Manohar lohia (RMl) Hospital of Farrukhabad, forcing the Government to transfer the District Magistrate, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Medical Superintendent.
“Officials should work as a team. In this case, it seems that they were working at cross purposes. The Government has ordered a probe into the matter. Farrukhabad DM Ravindra Kumar, CMO Umakant Pandey and CMS Akhilesh Agarwal have been shifted,” Principal Secretary (Health) Prashant Trivedi said in lucknow on Monday.
During an inspection of RMl Hospital last month, some parents told the DM about scarcity of oxygen in the children’s ward after which the DM ordered a probe by the CMO. However, since the DM was not satisfied with the probe findings, he ordered another enquiry by the Additional DM. In his report, the ADM stated that the deaths were due to lack of oxygen. Based on the report, an FIR was lodged against the CMO and the CMS.
On Monday, as the news spread, doctors went on a strike at RMl Hospital alleging that the DM was harassing the doctors. They said that the ADM’s report lacked medical “wisdom” and was written at the insistence of the DM.
The Principal Secretary (Health) too found holes in the ADM’s report.
“We are told that the enquiry was conducted on telephone which is not the right procedure,” said Trivedi, adding, “No death took place due to lack of oxygen in the hospital. The system was functional and there was sufficient reserve of oxygen in the store.”
“As the ADM’s report seems shoddy, the DG (Health) has been asked to probe the matter and report. We will take action on the basis of the DG’s findings,” Trivedi said.
Government spokesman Awnish Awasthi said that 49 children have died between July 21 and August 30 in RMl Hospital and all the deaths were because of medical reasons.
Giving details, he said that in this period 461 delivery cases were reported, of this, 19 were stillborn and the condition of 66 children were found critical. Six children later died during treatment.
In the same period, 145 children from other hospitals were referred to the RMl Hospital at Farrukhabad, of which 121 children recovered. Thus, 49 deaths were reported between July 20 and August 21. The spokesman said that perinatal asphyxia could be the reason for the death of children
Perinatal asphyxia is a medical condition resulting from deprivation of oxygen to a newborn that lasts long enough during the birth process to cause physical harm, usually to the brain.
This controversy erupted at the backdrop of Gorakhpur incident where 33 children died on August 10 and 11 as the hospital allegedly ran out of oxygen. The Government too had denied deaths in Gorakhpur because of lack of oxygen.