Gorakhpur hospital deaths : Raids in oxygen supplier's office, Satyarthi says children massacred

According to  reports, the toll rose to  63  after an 11-year-old child suffering from encephalitis died at the state-run Baba Raghav Das Medical College as the Congress demanded that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath must apologise to the state.

The incident has created an uproar in the state as at least 30 children have died in the last two days alone, forcing the Government to order an investigation.

An enraged Kailash Satyarthi, Nobel Peace Laureate, described the incident as a "massacre."

"Thirty  kids died in hospital without oxygen. This is not a tragedy. It's a massacre. Is this what 70 years of freedom means for our children?" he said.

Media reports said police conducted raids on the  Lucknow office of Pushpa Gas Agency, which was responsible for supply to the hospital after reports suggested that shortage of gas was behind the catastrophe.

However, State Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh claimed : “there is no question of oxygen shortage as the district magistrate ensured sufficient level of oxygen cylinders were stored in the hospital”.

Singh said a magisterial probe would be conducted in the matter. The investigation report is expected to be submitted within the next 24 hours.

The agency authorities also said the deaths were not due to oxygen supply cut-off.

" No one one can stop supply like this, we know consequences: Meenu Walia,HR Pushpa Gas agency, has been quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said a Samajwadi Party delegation  will go to BRD Medical College to take stock of the situation.

"The Government is not doing their job. They are busy in hounding SP workers. See what happened in Bareilly & Ballia," he said.

Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Maywati also said that a three-member tea of the party will visit  the hospital & update me on current situation.

"Any amount of criticism of BJP Govt for this heart-breaking incident is not enough," she said.

Accusing the state Government for the tragedy, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "Heart-wrenching incident. Saddened by children's death. This happened due to  state govt's carelessness. Both Health Min&Min of Technical&Medical Education must resign. UP CM can't step back from duty. Must apologize to state."