In Poorvanchal, every year, hundreds of children die due to Japanese brain fever. In August-September of 2017, over 60 children died at Gorakhpur Medical College due to lack of oxygen cylinders in the hospital. Dr Kafeel Khan, who was in charge of the unit maintaining oxygen cylinders, is basically a paediatrician, who took care of all the children coming to him. He was hailed as a hero, but soon the matter was turned into a communal issue, which suits those in power, to hide their inefficiency and failure. With the help of an absolutely thuggish media, rumours and conspiracy theories, built up around Dr Kafeel Khan, were floated. Instead of an inefficient political leadership, it was a doctor who was blamed for the deaths.
 
The police arrested him, humiliated him and kept him in jail for almost nine month, before the Allahabad High Court gave him bail.Now, Dr Kafeel Khan has been given a clean chit by the government itself. The question arises – who will return him those two years of horror, which he and his family went through? Dr Kafeel Khan’s hounding by the media, making him out as the biggest villain, and the harassment of his family is the biggest scandal of our time and must be investigated. Who authorised media to conduct a pre-fixed trial of Dr Khan and virtually create a threat to his life? With regular stories and narrative being built by the media, and circulating through WhatsApp and other social media platforms, the media, or rather the PR agencies of the ruling party, made him a criminal or a terrorist, prone to face violence by the people. Have we not learnt anything from mob-lynching and how rumours work in India in motivated killings of the innocent? Therefore, it is time to call to account all those who made a mockery of media ethics and reported mischievously on this incident. All of them must be made to explain.
 
It is time for the Press Council, the Editors’ Guild, the Information and Broadcasting ministry, and even the courts, to look into the affairs of the electronic media and the venom they have been spreading. Shouldn’t those media houses apologise for their slanderous campaign against Dr Kafeel Khan?It is not him alone – media today has become the biggest tool to spread falsehood, create fear and intimidate people. It is not the social media, but electronic media or mainstream media, which needs a resounding slap on its face for spreading all this poison which threatens the unity and integrity of the country. Will we see some hard hitting editorials against these party spokespersons sitting in the TV channels, who virtually abused Dr Kafeel Khan? No need to make him a hero, but as a citizen of India, he has his rights and one of them is the right to defend himself from such slander.
 
It is time that news media and channels develop strong media ethics so that anyone, who is wronged, can file a complaint and seek, not merely an apology, but compensation too. Let Dr Kafeel Khan file defamation charges against these channels, who sat on judgement before any court could do so.
 
We know the government will do nothing, as all news channels have been ‘Modified’, the Editors’ Guild has no power and the Press Council is basically an extended body of the Ministry for Information and Broadcasting. Maybe, the courts can take note of it and issue guidelines. It is essential because, in the name of media freedom, attempts are being made to influence public opinion, intimidate individuals and influence the courts, too. If the news anchors are allowed to sit on judgement, then the result will be many more tragedies like Dr Kafeel Khan. We need to seriously ponder over it. All those anchors, who lied and played political games by becoming pawns in the hands of their political masters or sponsors, must be made accountable and must clarify their position. Their editors must respond and a mere apology on the last page or in a small scroll will not work. Accountability must be fixed and Dr Kafeel Khan must be reinstated honourably as well as compensated fully. He needs to seek accountability from those who wanted to trap him and finish his career, to fulfil their ulterior political motives.
 
Let us hope that those in power do not resort to further witch-hunt to deny Dr Kafeel Khan his well-deserved due.
 
RELATED ARTICLES

1. Vindicated! Govt probe absolves Kafeel Khan of False Charges: BRD College Deaths, Gorakhpur
2. SC relief for Dr. Kafeel Khan, Yogi govt ordered to pay all subsistence allowances.
3. Human Rights Defenders who made India stronger in 2018
4. We will not be scared into silence: Umar Khalid and Dr. Kafeel Khan

The post Dr Kafeel Khan exonerated, now fix media accountability appeared first on SabrangIndia.

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.
 

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A Twitter campaign to revoke Dr. Kafeel Khan’s suspension order was announced on March 15. “It’s been 18 months and I am still suspended. Even though the High Court has given me a clean chit, the Yogi government is neither revoking my suspension nor letting me serve,” he said announcing the campaign, adding that he was being punished for a crime he didn’t commit and he needed public support.
 
He has urged Twitter users to use the hashtag #RevokeDrKafeel and use links of the #BRDOXYGENTRAGEDY in their tweets and urge the government to revoke his suspension. “Please help me to raise my voice. I just tried to save innocent kids,” he said.

 
In December 2018, talking straight from the Gorakhpur criminal court, Dr. Kafeel Khan said that things have not changed much in the last one and a half years. “What should have been finished in 90 days since the Supreme Court order, is still going on one and a half years later. No enquiry has begun,” he said through a Facebook live video from his profile.

 
He added that he has to visit the court every 14 days just to sign some documents. Every other week he has to shuttle between Allahabad and Lucknow to appear either keep tabs on the probe initiated over his brother’s attack or for his job. “They are neither revoking my suspension nor letting me serve,” he said.
 
“Whatever the authorities are doing, I urge them to come to a decision. Either let me go or let me serve. People who have no role in the tragedy are being hounded, put in jails for a year and are left with no jobs. They have families and small children and everyone needs to earn their daily bread. I just have a message for the authorities and the government that you can intimidate us as much as you want, we will rise with a new spirit every day and we are not afraid of you,” Dr. Khan said in the video.
 
He even requested UP CM Yogi Adityanath to expedite the enquiry through a letter on Tuesday. He urged him to request the authorities to come to a solution sooner.
 
In September, suspended paediatrician of BRD Medical College Hospital Dr. Kafeel Khan was arrested by Bahraich police for allegedly creating nuisance at the district hospital and later granted bail. A day after he was granted bail, Gorakhpur police arrested him and his brother for allegedly opening a bank account in a nationalised bank using fake documents.
 
He was arrested in September last year following deaths of around 30 children in August at the BRD Medical College. The kids had allegedly died of disruption in the oxygen supply in August 2017. In April this year, Khan got bail in the case but has been mired in different conspiracies along with a vicious attack on his brother ever since he decided to take on the authorities.
 
Dr. Kafeel Khan, the head of the encephalitis ward in the hospital, managed to save many lives and the parents in the hospital said that had it not been for his work, the number of deaths could have been higher.
 
However, this did not make Kafeel Khan a hero in the eyes of the administration. Khan was booked for criminal conspiracy, attempt to commit culpable homicide and criminal breach of trust by public servant, among others. The police filed the chargesheet in November 2017.
 
Lodged in a Gorakhpur jail since September 2, 2017, Dr Kafeel Khan in his letter alleged that he and others are being made “scapegoats” for an “administrative failure” at a higher level.
 
In one of the most extensive interviews, Dr. Kafeel Khan spoke to Human Rights activist Teesta Setalvad on the chilling accounts of what happened during the tragic 48 hours in August 2017. Dr. Khan was hailed as a hero initially and in a day’s time, he was haunted as the most wanted. Even though the public got to know that it was the lack of oxygen which caused the deaths of children, we do not know everything that happened in-between.
 
Dr. Kafeel Khan dismissed point by point, all propaganda to the contrary. He also went on to describe how Yogi warned him and how he had to pay a heavy price for doing his duty. In one of the most chilling disclosures, Dr. Khan sought everyone’s attention to what happened in the other departments of the hospital on the same days. The liquid oxygen had run out of supply to all the other departments as well, but nobody talked about it.
 

“I am a doctor; curing kids is my passion,” Dr. Kafeel Khan said in this interview. He discussed what his plans are and what might happen if his suspension is not revoked.

Read Also:
The Tragic Hero Of Gorakhpur Hospital Tragedy: Full Text Of Dr Kafeel Khan’s Letter
Is Dr. Kafeel Being Unjustly Accused in Gorakhpur’s Children’s Death Case?
We will not be scared into silence: Umar Khalid and Dr. Kafeel Khan
 

The post 18 months on, Dr. Kafeel Khan still suspended from service appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The post Is a Farcical Probe Being Done into the Gorakhpur Tragedy? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Dr. Kumar was accused of being derelict in his duty for allegedly being away from the hospital without permission during the oxygen shortage, and for not notifying his superiors of the lack of oxygen once Pushpa Sales, the supplier, had halted the supply. Dr. Kumar has been charged with attempt to commit culpable homicide (Section 308), forgery, and criminal conspiracy (Section 120) under the Indian Penal Code, and has also been charged under sections of the Information Technology Act and Prevention of Corruption Act. 

Speaking to The Hindu, Kumar’s counsel, Dileep Kumar, said that Satish Kumar was not involved in the payment process for the oxygen, that there was “no deliberate negligence” on his part, and that Dr. Kumar’s plea was accepted because there was no “cogent evidence” against him. The counsel said that Dr. Kumar “was not assigned any duty, except for the additional charge of maintenance of oxygen pipeline and storage tank, which he carried out well. He would inform the medical superintendent and principal, who are responsible for the oxygen supply and payment, whenever there was a shortage”. Dileep Kumar also said that, following a “proper application endorsed” by the hospital’s principal, Dr. Kumar was away to attend his son’s convocation at IIT-Bombay on August 12, and that when he found out about the children’s deaths, he returned to Gorakhpur without having attended the convocation. “His conduct says there is no complicity on his behalf,” the counsel said. 

Prior to the approval of Dr. Kumar’s bail application, Dr. Kafeel Khan, who was part of the hospital’s paediatric department, and Manish Bhandari, who supplied the oxygen, were also granted bail. The Allahabad High Court has denied bail for the principal, Rajiv Mishra, and his wife, Poornima Shukla.  
 

The post Gorakhpur’s Dr. Kumar gets bail in child deaths case appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Kafeel Khan, who is an accused in the Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College/Hospital tragedy case

The government was new and had come on the promise of good days ahead. The system therefore had to invent a culprit. The tears didn’t even dry when the system started to bay for the blood of Dr. Kafeel. That unending night of the tragedy, Dr. Kafeel had earned goodwill and praise from all media outlets for his sympathy and action to save dying children. But then, his identity did not fit the discourse of right-wingers. How could a Muslim become a hero? After all, this was a government which had come to power on an anti-Muslim plank and to their horror of horrors; here was a Muslim who amidst the murderous apathy of the government was winning applause from different quarters. The trolls got active. His past was dug up and frivolous charges were imputed to him. Charges which ranged from being ridiculous to being outright lies.

Dr. Kafeel was accused of siphoning off oxygen from the hospital. Strange that liquid oxygen can be siphoned off so easily. We do not know how he managed to it. Neither is the system, who is holding him guilty is telling us how he managed to do so. On the other hand, there is documented proof that the supply of oxygen was running dangerously low for the past one week. It is also on record that the supplier had withheld any further supplies unless the hospital cleared the pending bills. If anyone, then it should have been the chief medical officer of the district who should have been held responsible for so many deaths. But then, if you get a Muslim as a scapegoat, then all rationality has to be applied only with the express intention to frame this person as the accused.

Dr. Kafeel was also pilloried for running a private practice apart from his job at the hospital. The charge was that since he was also a private practitioner, he did not give enough attention to the hospital which ultimately led to the death of many children. This is simply ridiculous to say the least. Most doctors in India indulge in private practice. All doctors at the Gorakhpur hospital also indulge in private practice. Even the Supreme Court has not disallowed this practice. If the argument was that all private practice of doctors should be banned, then it was another story and its merits could be debated. But to single out just one doctor for his private practice just because he happens to be a Muslim reeks of systemic bias and hatred.

But then, if you cannot find fault in the professional behaviour of the person, then you rake up his past. Exactly the same happened to Dr. Kafeel. In 2015, he was accused of rape. The trolls went hyper. They had found the most convincing proof of his culpability. After all, how can someone who was accused of rape, become a hero for millions of people. But in their enthusiasm to decimate him morally, the right wing trolls conveniently forgot that the police had investigated the case and found that the charges against him were false and baseless and part of some conspiracy against him. But then, for those who articulate their political opinions based on the religious identity of the person, the accusation itself seems to the incontrovertible proof of guilt.

After eight long agonizing months inside jail, Dr. Kafeel has penned an open letter proclaiming his innocence. His bail has been repeatedly denied by the lower court and the High Court has not been hearing his bail plea on some pretext or the other. He rightly blames the DM of Gorakhpur and the higher officials of the health department in failing to see to it that regular payment was done to the supplier of oxygen to this hospital. Instead of them, he is languishing in prison for no fault of his. The law of the land, which many times has proclaimed that granting bail is the rule rather than the exception, has a different yardstick when the accused is a Muslim. It is not just Dr. Kafeel, but under the circumstances, his whole family is suffering because of his wrongful incarceration. Members of civil society must wake up to their plight and start a campaign so that justice is done to Dr. Kafeel at the earliest.

Arshad Alam is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com

Courtesy: New Age Islam

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In August 2017, 23 children died overnight at Gorakhpur’s Baba Raghubar Das Medical College Hospital, allegedly because of an oxygen shortage. Dr. Khan, a paediatrician working in the encephalitis ward at the hospital, rushed to arrange for oxygen cylinders, earning respect for his quick efforts.
 
However, on August 13, 2017, he was removed from his position as nodal officer, just days after the incident. In September, 2017, Dr. Khan was arrested in connection with the children’s deaths and also over corruption charges that have since been dropped. Khan is one of the nine accused in the childrens’ deaths, including the medical college’s principal, the principal’s wife, and the owner of the agency that supplied oxygen to the hospital. 
 
The alleged lack of oxygen reportedly took place because of a payment disagreement with a private supplier. Then, District Magistrate Rajeev Rautela had said he found out from doctors at the hospital that none of the deaths took place because of a lack of oxygen; the state government issued an official release denying reports about an oxygen shortage at the hospital. The government has attributed the children’s deaths to other causes.
 
Dr. Khan’s Heartfelt Letter
Days ago, while still in prison, Khan penned a letter sharing his plight. The later was made public by his wife who visited him in prison. In it, he describes how he worked to gather 250 cylinders of oxygen during the shortage, paying for them himself.
 
In the letter, he narrates his encounter with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, saying: 
“He asked: So you are Dr Kafeel? You arranged the cylinders?”
“Yes sir.”
“He got angry: So you think by arranging cylinders you became hero? I will see it.”
 
According to Khan, Adityanath was angered over how the incident making its way to the media. 
 
Dr. Khan writes that his family was tortured and threatened by the police, saying that he “surrendered to save my family from the humiliation, misery, thinking that when I have not done anything wrong, I should get justice”. He explains that he was not involved with the purchase, tender, order, maintenance, supply or payment of the liquid oxygen at the hospital.
 
Instead, he says the guilty are Gorakhpur’s district magistrate, the director general of medical education, the principal secretary of health education, who he says did not act on the 14 reminders to pay the outstanding dues. Khan calls the oxygen shortage “a total administrative failure at a higher level, they did not realise the gravity… They made us the scapegoat and put us behind the bars so that the truth will remain inside Gorakhpur jail.”

The post Gorakhpur’s Hero Doctor Comes Back Home appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Dr Kafeel Khan, the head of the encephalitis ward and a paediatrician, managed to save many lives and the parents in the hospital had said that had it not been for Khan’s work, the number of deaths could have been higher.

On the night of August 10, the central oxygen pipeline in the college premises started beeping, indicating low supply of the gas. The doctors and hospital staff knew that the supply could be maintained through emergency cylinders, but only for two hours. They did not know what to do after that.

Khan knew that uninterrupted oxygen to critically ill children, was the only life-saving medicine, to save lives of those suffering from encephalitis.

A few called up the supplier, only to be told that they will send fresh supplies only after clearance of their dues. Refusal from other suppliers caused more panic in the hospital. But Khan did not lose hope. He drove two hospitals employees in his car to his friend’s private nursing home and borrowed three oxygen cylinders.

Before leaving the hospital, he had given standing instructions to junior doctors on duty and paramedical staff to keep pumping Ambu bags if the oxygen supply further reduced in the central pipeline.

Khan loaded the three cylinders in his car and rushed back to BRD Hospital. However, the oxygen content in the cylinders was enough only to provide half an hour of supply in the central pipeline. Khan left the hospital again and made a round to other nursing homes known to him.
He collected as many as 12 oxygen cylinders. The child specialist made four trips to the hospital to ferry these cylinders for children admitted in his ward.

When he returned to the hospital, he was informed that a local supplier was ready to supply oxygen cylinders on cash payment. Dr Khan gave his ATM debit card to one of his employees and withdrew Rs 10,000 to bring in more oxygen for patients. He also paid for diesel and other expenses to truck drivers who brought fresh supplies from Faizabad.

“While others doctors gave up hope, Dr Khan managed the situation well by arranging oxygen cylinders from private nursing homes. He saved many lives by his efforts and presence of mind,” said Gaurav Tripathi, an eyewitness.

However, this did not make Kafeel Khan a hero in the eyes of the administration. Khan was booked for criminal conspiracy, attempt to commit culpable homicide and criminal breach of trust by public servant, among others. The police filed the chargesheet in November 2017.
Lodged in a Gorakhpur jail since September 2, 2017, Dr Kafeel Khan in his letter alleged that he and others are being made “scapegoats” for an “administrative failure” at a higher level.

In the letter from jail, dated April 18 and released to the media by Khan’s wife Shabista at the Press Club of India on Saturday, the paediatrician wrote that he was on sanctioned leave on August 10, 2017, when news reached him about the deaths, and he “rushed” to the hospital.

“The moment I got that WhatsApp message on that fateful night, I did everything a doctor, a father, a responsible citizen of India would/should do… I tried to save each and every life which was in danger due to sudden stoppage of liquid oxygen,” he wrote.

Khan claimed, “The guilty are DM Gorakhpur, DGME (director general of medical education), principal secretary health education for not taking any action against 14 reminders sent by Pushpa Sales for its Rs 68 lakh dues. It was a total administrative failure at higher level, they did not realise the gravity and just to save themselves, they made us scapegoat and put us behind the bars…”

He claims that his life “turned upside down” when UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited him the following day.

“He asked, ‘so you are Dr Kafeel? You arranged cylinders?’ I was…yes sir. He got angry — ‘so you think by arranging cylinders, you became hero, I will see it’,” Khan wrote. “Yogi-ji was angry because…how this incident came into the media.” He stated that he “did not inform any mediaperson that night”, and that they were “already there” when he reached the hospital.

Thereafter, he wrote, his family was “hounded” and “tortured”, forcing him to surrender.

At the press conference, Shabista said, “My husband has done no crime. If he wanted, he could have stayed home (during the emergency last August). On many occasions he has himself paid for supplies such as masks, gloves and sanitisers. The deaths were a result of administrative failure…”

Ravi Nair, executive director of South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre, who also addressed the press conference, said all offences Khan and others were charged with are bailable.
 

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Dr Kafeel Ahmad Khan of Gorakhpur’s Baba Raghubar Das (BRD) Medical College and Hospital has been lodged in the prison for the past eight months. He is accused of being responsible for the death of over 30 children on the intervening night of August 10 and 11, 2017. This incident, which horrified the country and made global news, was apparently caused because the state-run hospital ran out of oxygen on the fateful night asphyxiating the children – mostly infants – being treated in the encephalitis ward, within a span of 48 hours. The shortage of oxygen occurred after a Lucknow-based private company – Pushpa Sales – cut off supply following repeated reminders to the state-run hospital that its dues of approximately Rs 65 lakhs needed to be paid.

The horrendous incident has been enveloped in a fog of claims and counter claims. It is widely held that the Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh is making the doctor a scapegoat to hide its own “infrastructural lapses and failure”. Meanwhile, a chargesheet filed against Dr.Kafeel accuses him of attempt to commit culpable homicide.

Newsclick has reviewed all the relevant documents including the chargesheet filed against Dr. Kafeel by the state prosecution, FIR and other police documents, documents relating to his appointment and service, his legal petitions, etc. to investigate whether the charges against him are valid. What emerges is shocking disregard for truth and a transparent design to implicate him without any reasonable ground. Here is a summary:

1. What were the official responsibilities of Dr. Kafeel at BRD College and Hospital?
Being a pediatrician, he was serving as an assistant professor at the BRD. He was not head of its Pediatric Department. Dr Mahima Mittal heads the department and Dr Satish Kumar, who is also an accused in the case, was in-charge of infrastructural maintenance of the department.

Dr.Kafeel was not even in-charge of the 100-bed acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) ward. Dr Bhupendra Sharma and Dr Rachna Bhatnagar were the in-charges of the 100-bed AES ward and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) respectively where deaths of children took place. The exchange of letters between Dr Bhupendra Sharma and Dr Mahima Mittal available with the chargesheet filed by the police in the case confirms that the former was the nodal officer of the AES ward.     

He was appointed under National Health Mission (NHM) – which works in coordination with the state government in the fight against encephalitis – as a contractual staff posted at BRD Medical College from May 24, 2013 to August 8, 2016. During this period, he was nodal officer of the 100-bed AES ward.

He resigned on August 8, 2016 to take charge as an assistant professor and the spokesperson of the BRD Medical College after clearing the UP Public Service Commission exam. After his service was regularised and he entered into academics, he was also appointed on December 29, 2016 as the Nodal Officer of the NHM, the post he held till August 13, 2017. The UP government removed him on August 13 at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s behest after the children’s deaths.

As Nodal Officer of the NHM at BRD Medical College, Dr Kafeel was responsible for maintaining attendance, payments and supervising the work of the staff appointed under the mission. He was also supposed to take directions from his superiors and getting them implemented apart from discharging academic activities as an assistant professor and medical treatment of the children admitted in the ward.

2. Was Dr.Kafeel responsible for maintaining oxygen supply?
From the records it is clear that Dr.Kafeel was in no way responsible for arranging or monitoring oxygen supply.

The prosecution has said that the “accused persons knew that there was a possible threat to the lives of the children if the oxygen supply is cut off. They willingly did not make payment to Pushpa Sales that prompted the official supplier of the liquid oxygen to discontinue its services, which resulted in the disaster”.

Records suggest that Dr Kafeel had no role in procurement of oxygen, monitoring its stock and making payment to the supplier. It is the responsibility of the maintenance department, which was headed by Dr Satish Kumar – who also headed the department of anesthesia – to monitor the oxygen supply. The evidence number 38, 39, 40 and 47 of the chargesheet also confirms the same.

Pushpa Sales wrote 10 letters and 14 reminders for the payment of dues. All letters were addressed to UP’s Director General Medical Education, Principal of BRD Medical College and the district administration. None of the letters were addressed to Dr Kafeel. 

3. Was he absent when the tragic incident occurred?
The chargesheet alleges that Dr Kafeel was absent that fateful night without any prior intimation. However, the attendance sheet accessed by Newsclick shows that the doctor was on leave, which was granted by the HOD.

Despite being on authorized leave, Dr Kafeel apparently got a message regarding the crisis and he informed his superiors such as Pediartics Department HOD Dr Mahima Mittal, Dr Satish Kumar – who was the in-charge of the oxygen supply – and Incharge Principal Dr Ram Kumar Jaiswal. Then he rushed to the Hospital.

“He (Dr Kafeel) reached the hospital and urged others as well to come over there,” said an official of the medical college who was close to the development.

The location of his cell phone, his call records, statements of people at present in the hospital and several other documents testifies the fact. All these documents, which were presented before the trial court along with bail application moved by the defense, have been accessed by Newsclick.

He contacted the the district magistrates of Gorakhpur and Sant Kabir Nagar who spoke to the owners of the suppliers and ensure the availability of the oxygen cylinders. The DIG Sashastra Seema Bal helped transport the cylinders.

Fifty cylinders were brought in on the same fateful night IGL and they were used as well. By August 11 morning, 50 more cylinders had reached to the hospital from Faizabad. It all happened because of the initiatives taken by Dr Khan.

“It was Dr Kafeel who went extra miles and made the arrangements with the help of the district magistrates of Gorakhpur and Sant Kabir Nagar and deputy inspector general of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB),” an official of the medical college told Newsclick requesting anonymity.

The SSB – the central police force that protects India’s borders with Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh – had gone on record and said Dr Kafeel’s efforts and SSB’s assistance helped in fighting the crisis.

“It was an unprecedented crisis situation at the BRD Medical College on August 10. Dr Kafeel Khan came to the DIG, SSB and requested for a truck so that oxygen cylinders could be collected from various locations and be taken to the medical college,” a News18 report had earlier quoted SSB’s PRO OP Sahu as saying.

4. Why has first probe panel’s report been ignored?
The District Magistrate set up a panel of high ranking officials immediately after the incident. It comprised: City Magistrate Vivek Kumar Srivastava, Chief Medical Officer Dr Ravindra Kumar, Additional District Magistrate (City) Rajneesh Chandra, Additional Commissioner (Gorakhpur division) Sanjay Kumar Singh and Additional Director (Health and Family Welfare) Dr Pushkar Anand. This panel gave a report on 13 August to the DM Rajeev Rautela who passed it on to the hedical education minister Ashutosh Tandon Gopalji. The report indicted the then BRD Principal Rajeev Mishra, Chief Anaesthetist Dr Satish Kumar and Chief Pharmacist Gajanand Jaiswal for the oxygen crisis apart from holding Pushpa Sales responsible for disrupting oxygen supply over payment issues.
The probe committee had found that the Pediatrics Department requires around 250 oxygen cylinders every 24 hours for proper functioning. When low pressure of oxygen was reported, the investigators had found, there were 52 oxygen cylinders in the stock. The panel had said – based on the documents provided by the chief pharmacist and the chief medical superintendent of the BRD Medical College and Hospital, 100, 120 and six cylinders of oxygen were procured at around 1:30 am on August 10-11 night from two different suppliers and one hospital – Imperial Gas, Modi Gas and Anand Lok Hospital – respectively. These arrangements were made by Dr.Kafeel.

“Dr Mishra and Dr Satish left headquarters without any information, thereby failed to address the emergency situation,” said the FIR.

5. How did oxygen supply run out?
IMA Secretary Dr R P Shukla said the situation of lack of oxygen arose due to administrative slack, absence of accountability and corruption running from officials in Gorakhpur to Lucknow. Although the state govt. had all the amenities to prevent the situation from happening, but it didn’t do so. On the contrary they arrested the doctor who with limited amenities tried to prevent the situation, he said.
Interestingly, it was reported that a high level committee headed by the Chief Secretary of UP govt. had found that lack of oxygen was not the cause of death of the children at BRD College. This report has not been released publicly. But, the govt. has slapped serious cases against doctors of the hospital on this ground.

Dr Shukla said that doctors were not even allowed on bail and neither was any thorough investigation done in the case after the incident. He demanded a high-level probe in the matter.

Chargesheet Relies on Confused Facts
Ignoring the above mentioned facts, the police charged the doctor under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 308 (attempt to culpable homicide) and 409 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Charges of corruption and private practice against Dr.Kafeel have been dropped by the investigators.

To slap Section 308 of the IPC, it is necessary that a person does any act with an intention or knowledge that his or her act would cause death of another person/persons. But in this case, there is no mention of the name of the person in the entire FIR and chargesheet against whom the crime punishable under Section 308 of the IPC has been committed.

Bail plea not even being heard
Of the nine accused in the case, the Supreme Court on April 9 granted bail to the oxygen supplier who was booked for criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust under sections of the IPC.

After rejection from a court in Gorakhpur, Dr Kafeel’s bail application has not been heard for seven months, with the Allahabad High Court continuously postponing it as either the government lawyer has not turned up, or the reply by the government needs more details, etc.

In what local lawyers admit is totally unprecedented the high court at one point showed two dates for the hearing as “pending.” At the moment a new date for the hearing has still not been given with Khans lawyers having written to the judge for a date, reports The Citizen .

Interestingly, the high court in what UP lawyers describe as “unprecedented” has given two ‘next’ dates for the hearing and shown both of them as ‘pending’.

Courtesy: Newsclick.in
 

The post Is Dr.Kafeel Being Unjustly Accused in Gorakhpur’s Children’s Death Case? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Data shows that the Northern Indian state stands nowhere in front of the healthcare system in the South Indian state.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath claims that the Kerala should learn from his government how to run infirmaries, but the data shows that the Northern Indian state stands nowhere in front of the healthcare system in the South Indian state.
 

According to the data provided by Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College and Hospital in UP’s Gorakhpur district, a total of 433 children – highest in the past four years – died in September this year.

BRD had been in the spotlight for the past few months following the deaths of nearly 60 children because of lack of oxygen supply between 7 and 11 August.

The horror returned to BRD once again in less than three weeks with 42 children dying in 48 hours from August 30.

After the tragedy hit headlines, the government swung into action and suspended their staff, including doctors, for alleged dereliction of duty and corruption. Cases were filed against them and they were sent behind bars.

With an aim to improve the medical care, 20 new doctors were appointed at the BRD Medical College’s paediatrics department. But no improvement was observed. Against 372 deaths of children in September last year, 433 newborns died in the same month this year.

A maximum number of deaths were reported from the BRD’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) – an intensive care unit designed for premature and ill newborn babies – where 247 breathed their last in the previous month.

In addition, 186 children died of encephalitis and other diseases in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).

The number of deaths that took place so far in BRD Medical College is highest in the past four years. In 2014, this number stood at 302 and it went up to 378 in 2015. The year 2016 recorded a marginal decline by registering 372 death of children.

In fact, comparing UP and Kerala may not be such a great idea for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). If one compares the data obtained from National Family Health Survey (2015-16) and National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (until August 20, 2017), there is no-contest between UP and Kerala. 

Courtesy: Newsclick
 

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