Gorakhpur hospital tragedy: Another BRD Medical College clerk held; eight arrested in all

Gorakhpur: Another clerk of the BRD Medical College was arrested on Thursday in the wake of deaths of scores of children in the state-run facility last month, police said. With this, eight of the nine persons named in the FIR have been held. “Clerk Uday Pratap Sharma was nabbed near Gorakhpur railway station,” Gorakhpur Senior Superintendent of Police Anirudh Sidhartha Pankaj told PTI. [caption id=“attachment_4000243” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A woman comforts her child who is suffering from encephalitis at a hospital in Gorakhpur. Reuters[/caption] Former chief pharmacist of the medical college, Gajanan Jaiswal, had surrendered in a city court on Wednesday and sent him to 14-day judicial custody. The Uttar Pradesh Police had on Wednesday arrested clerk Sanjay Tripathi while another clerk Sudhir Pandey was arrested near Khajanchi Chowk area in Gorakhpur last week. Earlier, the former head of the anaesthesia department, Dr Satish, had surrendered in the anti-corruption court in Gorakhpur. On 2 September, ex-chief of the encephalitis wing of the hospital, Dr Kafeel Khan was arrested, while the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force had arrested ex-principal Rajiv Mishra and his wife Purnima Shukla on 29 August. Mishra was suspended as principal of the medical college on 12 August after the deaths were reported. He had resigned the same day taking moral responsibility. The ninth accused against whom non-bailable warrant had been issued is the oxygen supplier Manish Bhandari. A committee headed by chief secretary Rajive Kumar probing the Gorakhpur tragedy had recommended initiating criminal action against Mishra, Dr Satish, Dr Khan and Pushpa Sales, the supplier of oxygen cylinders. More than 60 children, mostly infants, had died at the hospital within a week last month. There were allegations that the deaths occurred due to a disruption in oxygen supply over unpaid bills to the vendor. The state government has vehemently denied that shortage of oxygen led to the deaths. Mishra was accused of sitting over the issue of payments to the vendor supplying oxygen to the hospital.