India’s local gov’t sets up committee to look into deaths of 60 children at hospital

NEW DELHI, Aug. 14 — The local government in India’s northern
state of Uttar Pradesh has set up a committee to ascertain the lapses that
have caused the deaths of 60 children at a medical college hospital,
officials said Saturday.

According to the government, 60 deaths have taken place in the hospital
during past five days.The inquiry was ordered Friday night after local
media reports quoting hospital authorities said 30 children died in the
hospital due to lack of oxygen cylinders.Meanwhile, the local government
denied deaths of the children due to lack of oxygen cylinders in the
hospital. Health Minister of the local government Sidharth Nath Singh said
in a statement that 60 children have died in the hospital since Aug. 7 due
to different diseases but not because of lack of oxygen cylinders.”District
magistrate of Gorakhpur has also initiated a magisterial probe to find
exact reasons of children death,” a government spokesman said. “The
district magistrate is camping there to look into the matter.”

Opposition leader and former Chief Minister of the state Akhilesh Yadav
termed the incident as unfortunate and held the local government
responsible for the deaths.The ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) is
governing Uttar Pradesh.India’s main opposition Congress party chief Sonia
Gandhi and party Vice President Rahul Gandhi have expressed deep shock over
the deaths.
“My thoughts are with the families of the victims. The BJP government is
responsible and should punish the negligent who caused this tragedy,” Rahul
Gandhi said.-XINHUA