Two years after the incident, department report finds him not guilty
After spending nine months in jail but fighting it out, a departmental inquiry has absolved pediatrician Dr. Kafeel Khan of the charges of medical negligence, corruption and dereliction of duty on the day more than 60 children died due to shortage of oxygen at the BRD Medical College in August 2017.
In a press release he said, “After 2 years, this enquiry report, (commissioned by the state govt itself) has accepted that there is no evidence of medical negligence on my part. It states unequivocally that I was nowhere involved with oxygen supply/tender/maintenance/payment or order.
The report has also accepted that there was a shortage of liquid oxygen for 54 hours in BRD Medical College on 10 ,11,12th of August 2017 and I had arranged jumbo oxygen cylinders to save dying kids.”
Decrying the Government, he said, “To hide Government failure I was made scapegoat and imprisoned for nine months.”
(Source – Times of India)
The report, handed over to him on Thursday by the BRD officials, has come in two years after Khan was suspended from the hospital and spent nine months in jail for the charges he has now been acquitted.
Out on bail, he continues to be suspended from the hospital. He has demanded a CBI probe into the tragedy.
Surprisingly, though investigating office Himashu Kumar, Principal Secretary (Stamp & Registration Department) had submitted the probe report regarding the deaths to the Medical Education Department on April 18, 2019, the Uttar Pradesh government had not taken any action on it, nor did it make it public.
Dr. Khan has blamed the State government for keeping him in the dark about being absolved of the allegations made against him for around five months.
The Positive Shift
In wake of the incident, Dr. Khan had run from pillar to post trying to prove his innocence. Since his suspension, his remuneration was withdrawn proving to be an additional hurdle in the already challenging time.
On May 10, 2019 in an immense wave of relief, a division bench of Hon’ble Supreme Court of India comprising Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Indira Banerjee ordered the enquiry regarding suspension of Dr. Kafeel Khan to be concluded timely and further directed the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh to pay all subsistence allowances payable to Dr. Kafeel Khan pending his suspension.
The dues, amounting to approximately Rs. 16 lakhs were cleared to be paid to him by the Principal of the BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur on March 17, 2018.
This move proved to be a tectonic shift in Dr. Khan’s arduous journey, where the reality of his innocence and the tardiness of the authorities was slowly coming to the fore.
Exclusive with Sabrangindia
Today, in an exclusive video sent to Sabrang India, Dr. Kafeel has shared happiness that he and his family are feeling after his acquittal. Though he is relieved about his acquittal and that he no longer bears the tag of a ‘murderer’, he calls for the government and the police to conduct a strict probe into the makings of the BRD Medical tragedy and put the real culprits behind bars.
The Video may be watched here.
The 15 –page report handed over to him just recently, states that Kafeel was not guilty of medical negligence on his part and made all the efforts to control the situation on the nights of August 10-11, 2017, when for 54 hours, the hospital was dealing with oxygen shortage.
The report also noted that Khan was involved in private practice till 2016, but not after that.
According to the report, Kafeel was not the nodal medical officer in charge of the encephalitis ward at the hospital and that the documents contesting the same provided by the Department were “inadequate and inconsistent”.
It clarifies that Khan had informed his seniors of the oxygen shortage, providing the inquiry officer with call details of the same and also presenting proof of providing seven oxygen cylinders in his personal capacity, on the night of the tragedy. The report also mentions that Khan and his team managed to procure 500 oxygen cylinders in those 54 hours on their own merit.
“While the government has not been able to pin down the actual culprit yet, I have been made the scapegoat. The report was not sent to me in all these months. Now, the Medical Education Department has asked me to come forth to present my case on the private practice issue, which is not even related to the tragedy,” he said.
“The government should tender an apology, provide victims with compensation and get the incident probed by the CBI,” he added.
In Conversation with Sabrang India
On June 26, 2018, in an extensive interview with Sabrang India, Dr. Khan recounted the events of the nights of the tragic 48 hours of August 2017.
In his interview, he accused the mainstream media of making allegations against him without even checking the ground reality. He cleared his stance on how apathy of the government related to the death of the children, the deaths in the other departments (trauma center, maternity department, etc.) of the hospital on the same night.
He demanded a probe by the five committees of the government into the deaths that took place in the other departments as well due to the shortage of oxygen in the central tank.
Speaking to the Press, he said, “Those parents who lost their infants are still waiting for the justice.I demand that government should apologize and give compensation to the victim families.”
He accused the government of not only harassing him, but also his whole family, as a means of torture and intimidation.
Dr. Khan also spoke about the pathetic conditions in the prison he was kept in, apart from being intimidated by the officials there.
He also said that he would be willing to work if his suspension would be revoked. He wished to start an encephalitis center for kids suffering from such a fatal disease.