Panic strikes Gorakhpur’s BRD Medical College again, 61 children die in 3 days
Days after alleged disruption
in oxygen supply resulted in deaths of over
30 children within 48 hours at Gorakhpur’s BRD Medical College, 61 children
died there in the last 72 hours, spreading panic in the hospital again. The latest deaths were
due to various ailments, including encephalitis, health complexities in
newborns, pneumonia, sepsis etc, whose patients have been flooding the
hospital, leading to overcrowding.
On August 27, 28 and
29, 61 deaths were recorded at the hospital — 11 in the encephalitis ward, 25
in neonatal intensive care unit (NNICU) and another 25 in the general pediatric
ward. Local doctors said the
number of deaths will increase in the coming days due to heavy rainfall, floods
and water-logging which foster the spread of acute encephalitis syndrome (AES).
While BRD principal Dr
P K Singh did not respond to repeated calls, Dr R N Singh, a paediatrician, who
has worked extensively in the field of encephalitis, said: “Insufficient
homework was done to control the outspread of AES in January, and thereafter
the entire machinery remained busy in the UP elections.” “Secondly, heavy
monsoon also accounts for a large number of cases among children,” Singh said,
adding that measures like fogging to kill mosquitoes (JE host), de-silting,
vaccination and chlorination of water were not done in time.
After the death of
over 30 children on August 10 and 11, the state government increased the
strength of doctors and paramedical staff in the hospital. But due to the large
inflow of infected children, the wards are packed and three to four children
are adjusted on one bed. The medical college
receives patients from 36 eastern UP districts and Nepal and at any given time
has about 500 such patients.
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