Gorakhpur child deaths: Former head of BRD medical college's anaesthesia dept surrenders

Gorakhpur : Former head of anaesthesia department at the state-run Baba Raghav Das Medical College Dr Satish on Monday surrendered in a local court in Gorakhpur, taking to five the number of those held in connection with the death of children in the hospital. “Dr Satish surrendered himself in the anti-corruption court this afternoon. We will seek his remand for interrogation,” SSP, Gorakhpur, Anirudh Sidhartha Pankaj said. “Apart from this, evidence gathering is going on,” he told PTI. Circle officer of Cantt police station Abhishek Singh said, “The court has sent Dr Satish to jail. Police have sought a remand of two days from the court for interrogating him.” [caption id=“attachment_3922555” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] A committee headed by Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Rajive Kumar probing the Gorakhpur hospital tragedy had earlier recommended initiating criminal action against the then principal of the BRD Medical College Dr Rajiv Mishra, HoD Anaesthesia Paediatric department Dr Satish, in-charge of 100-bed AES ward Dr Kafeel Khan and Pushpa Sales, the supplier of oxygen cylinders. Before Satish’s surrender, the police had arrested four of the nine people named in the FIR related to the death of over 30 children within 48 hours beginning August 10. Last week, the Uttar Pradesh police had nabbed Sudhir Pandey, a clerk of the BRD Medical College, in connection with the deaths. Pandey was named in the FIR filed in the case and was arrested from near Khajanchi Chowk under Shahpur police station area here on a tip-off. The Uttar Pradesh police on September 2 arrested Dr Kafeel Khan who had been earlier removed from his post in the state-run hospital. The Special Task Force of Uttar Pradesh police had on 29 August arrested the former principal of BRD Medical College, Rajiv Mishra, and his wife, Purnima Shukla. Mishra was suspended as principal of the medical college on 12 August after the deaths were reported. He resigned thesame day taking moral responsibility. There were allegations that the deaths occurred due to disruption in oxygen supply as the vendor had not been paid for several months. While the Uttar Pradesh government vehemently denied that shortage of oxygen led to the deaths, a high-powered probe committee headed by the chief secretary indicted Mishra and others on charges of laxity among others. Mishra was accused of sitting over the issue of payments to the vendor supplying oxygen gas to the hospital. The medical college attracted global attention when more than 60 children, mostly infants, died at the hospital within a week last month. The issue also acquired a political colour with the opposition attacking the government over it.