Gorakhpur hospital tragedy: Mayawati says BRD college principal has been made a scapegoat

Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Sunday said BRD college principal Dr Rajeev Mishra has been made a “scapegoat”, after he was suspended following the death of 30 children at the hospital within a span of 48 hours. [caption id=“attachment_3845181” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Mayawati. PTI[/caption] She also termed Uttar Pradesh health minister Sidharth Nath Singh’s remarks that “many children die” in the month of August every year at the Gorakhpur-based state-run hospital as “irresponsible”. After the death of the children at the hospital amid allegations that the oxygen supply was cut over unpaid bills, Singh had said the average daily toll for August at the BRD college was between 17 and 18 in the last three years. “The health minister’s statement is irresponsible. Our party condemns it,” Mayawati said. The state government had on Saturday suspended the BRD college principal “owing to laxity”. The principal had later resigned taking “moral responsibility” for the death of the children admitted to the hospital’s paediatric ward. “By making the college principal a scapegoat, the state government is trying to absolve itself of all responsibility,” Mayawati said. She also said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath should remain “more alert and strict” to avoid recurrence of such incidents. “The chief minister should initiate strict action against those responsible to avoid recurrence of such incidents in future,” she said. Giving the stats on previous year deaths at the BRD college, Singh had said, “The paediatric deaths which took place are in August are: 567 in 2014 (19 per day), 668 in 2015 (22 per day) and 587 in 2016 (19.5 per day).” On Adityanath’s assertion that the guilty would not be spared, Mayawati said it was a “hollow statement” as there is no action on ground. The BJP government in the state is proving to be a failure on the law and order front and in providing basic facilities to the people, she alleged. “No stern action is seen so that the parents of victims get a hope of getting justice,” she said.