Yogi kicks up controversy as 340 children die in govt hospitals in one month

Lucknow, Aug 30: Facing flak from different quarters, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday kicked up a massive controversy amid reports of the death of 340 children, mostly new born at two state government hospitals, including the dreaded BRD Medical College hospital, within a span of one month.

According to the official records, as many as 42 children, including 16 new borns, died at the BRD Medical College hospital. ''25 children died within 24-hours on Tuesday alone,'' said a senior hospital official in Gorakhpur.

The official said that 290 children have died at the medical college hospital in the month of August so far. The tally was expected to rise given the track record of the hospital.

Reports of children's death were received from another government hospital in state's Farrukhabad district, about 300 kilometres from here.

Official records revealed that as many as 49 children, including 30 new borns, have died at the district hospital in Farrukhabad in this month so far.

Health officials here claimed that all these children had been critical. ''A majority of children are brought here in critical condition...as a result, many of them die,'' said a district health official in Farrukhabad.

Adityanath, meanwhile, triggered a huge controversy by his remarks amid the death of children.

Speaking at a function here Adityanath virtually lambasted the people for ''blaming'' the government for all their ills while ''shirking'' their (people) own responsibility.

''There may come a time, when the people will abandon their children, when they reach the age of one or two years, seeking the government to take care of them,'' he said.

He said that the people these days only wanted to shift the blame on to the government and did not discharge their duty.

''The remark is unfortunate....it will only embolden the officials,'' said a senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader here on Wednesday.

Barely a few days back UP health minister Siddharth Nath Singh had drawn flak for his remarks over the death of 30 children at BRD Medical College allegedly owing to shortage of oxygen. The minister had then sought to downplay the deaths by furnishing statistics of casualty in the hospital during the month of August in previous years and said that in comparison fewer deaths had taken place in August this year.