At least 71 children have died in the last 45 days at a government-operated district hospital in Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh, ANI reported. D. K. Singh, the hospital’s medical superintendent, confirmed the deaths, and told ANI, “A large number of children were admitted to the hospital and 71 died in the past 45 days. Children have died due to various diseases.” Singh also said that the hospital has 200 beds “but currently, 450 patients are admitted here. The workload is very high. We are trying our best to save as many lives as we can”.
According to an ANI video, Singh said that 2,158 children were admitted to the hospital in August until September 16, and that 71 children died, due to various ailments, including hepatitis, meningitis, anaemia, and septicaemia.
“The incident comes a year after 60 infants died in Gorakhpur’s Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College, allegedly due to lack of oxygen supply,” ANI reported, adding, “The hospital authorities, however, denied this claim and said that the infants died due to encephalitis.” In July 2018, The Wire (Hindi) reported that 1,049 children had died in six months at the BRD Medical College.
Meanwhile, NDTV reported that UP Chief Minster Yogi Adityanath’s government has sounded a high alert after 84 people died due to a “mystery fever” in the past six weeks. The state government issued a press release confirming the outbreak, naming the affected districts as Bareilly, Budaun, Hardoi, Sitapur, Bahraich and Shahjahanpur.