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Gorakhpur children's murder: Yogi Adityanath has failed Uttar Pradesh

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Shantanu Mukharji
Shantanu MukharjiAug 14, 2017 | 14:38

Gorakhpur children's murder: Yogi Adityanath has failed Uttar Pradesh

The recent deaths of nearly 63 infants in a Gorakhpur hospital allegedly due to lack of oxygen cylinders casts a deep shadow on the governance of Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, as he struggles to control a vast and complex state like UP.

The tragedy hitting Gorakhpur - the Yogi's home turf and a constituency he has represented for decades - is even more embarrassing.

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Yogi's apparently successful style of administration in running a mutt in Gorakhpur and his relentless efforts to raise issues of his constituency in Parliament seemed to have earned him some esteem among the people of UP and his colleagues in the BJP.

He had also initially given hopes of a good administration under his rule as CM and people were looking forward to some change in affairs after years of politics of the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party in UP.

But as months have passed since the BJP won the Assembly election in March, hopes were belied and people were left disappointed. The fresh deaths of children are the latest challenge for Yogi’s administration.

In the wake of these unfortunate deaths, a blame game and massive cover-up has already begun. The state administration is passing the buck on to the oxygen cylinder supplier and to state health minister Sidharth Nath Singh for denying payment to the supplier - sources say that only part-payment was made and a huge sum of Rs 26 lakh was still due to the supplier.

In UP, there is a medical education minister too - Ashutosh Tandon - whose statements are not in sync with the health minister's. The IAS health secretary of the government has in the meantime come out with yet another different statement.

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Basically, each functionary is on the defensive and fudging facts in an attempt to hide inadequacies because, let’s face it, this tragedy could have been avoided.

UP is a difficult state to govern and the heath sector has long been neglected with reports of rampant corruption in health departments, especially in procurement of drugs and postings of medical officers.

It needs to be thoroughly investigated as to how so many lives were lost and that too so cheaply. Accountability must be fixed and those complicit taken to task. So far, only the principal of the Baba Raghubar Das Medical College, Rajiv Mishra, has been sacked.

The move is perhaps a feeble attempt at damage control. But more heads need to roll. It's needless to underscore that it was an abject failure on part of the state administration to oversee the functioning of the hospital/college that resulted in the loss of young lives.

In fact, it looks like the government is not serious about improving the medical administration in UP. Else, only a few days ago, the CM himself had paid a visit to the hospital apparently to inspect the proceedings there. Yet, it had no effect.

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A father holds the lifeless body of his child. Photo: PTI

In the recent past, Yogi Adityanath, in an apparent bid to pull up the administration, had suspended a few officials including a sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) during a tour of east UP's Maharajgunj district. This may indicate to some that the CM has good intentions in ensuring bureaucratic accountability but it's sad that his visits and actions have little impact.

The Yogi doesn't have a corruption taint against him yet (though he is accused of inciting communal hatred and riots), but governing a state like UP is different from representing one parliamentary constituency and perhaps the CM is still not in control and has a long way to go.

Any probe or commission of inquiry by the state government may not meet the expectations of the general public. This is because there is the general perception that such temporary institutions are nothing but an eyewash, meant to while away time till memories of the ghastly incident are erased from the public mind.

It would, therefore, look objective if a commission of inquiry is instituted comprising members from outside Uttar Pradesh. That will carry some credibility. And there will be no implications or subsequent allegations of caste or religious bias.

Going back to the unfortunate deaths, sanitary conditions in Gorakhpur are abysmal to say the least. Open drains and lack of cleanliness are the order of the day. Encephalitis and other water-borne diseases make the city (importantly the CM's constituency) vulnerable from the point of view of health and hygiene.

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The UP government has removed the good doctor from the hospital administration.

With thousands of doctors and paramedics on government payrolls, it should not be difficult to ensure elementary health facilities. It may not be an exaggeration to also have a relook at the professional competence of the medicos who have been graduating in alarming numbers from private and relatively unknown medical colleges and entrusted with saving lives.

The medical fraternity in UP must introspect afresh and take anew the Hippocratic Oath given to each medical graduate. But we cannot paint everyone with one brush.

As accountability on harsh terms must be fixed against those responsible for the negligence that killed innocent children, the praiseworthy doctor Kafeel Khan - he saved the lives of many children by arranging for oxygen cylinders and paying for them out of his own pocket - must not only be commended but felicitated in public for conforming to medical ethics and preventing loss of further lives by transporting oxygen cylinders himself.

Perhaps the state of UP needs more doctors like him so that the poor and the aggrieved can safely rely on medical help and hospitals. Dr Khan deserves felicitation by the state governor and CM on the occasion of Independence Day to encourage more such acts.

The erstwhile culture of owning moral responsibility for any tragedy by ministers or those in high-profile jobs is forgotten. Railway minister in Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet Lal Bahadur Shastri had resigned due a train accident that took a toll of many lives. Sidharth Nath Singh, the health minister of UP, is his maternal grandson. Will he take moral responsibility over the Gorakhpur deaths like his grandfather did?

Last updated: August 14, 2017 | 14:38
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