Pic: Wikimedia Commons
Around 30 children have reportedly died due to shortage of oxygen at Baba Raghav Das Hospital, Gorakhpur. The deaths took place over the last 48 hours. Most children were suffering from encephalitis.
Supply of liquid oxygen was reportedly disrupted due to pending payment.
The hospital, allegedly, owed around Rs 66 lakh to the company that supplied oxygen. And when despite repeated reminders the hospital authorities, allegedly, didn’t pay the pending bill, the company cut the supply of oxygen. However, the hospital denies allegation saying that the deaths are not related to the shortage of oxygen.
The incident took place two days after chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s visit to Gorakhpur, his constituency and the hospital. Gorakhpur has witnessed at least 114 deaths due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) this year.