LUCKNOW, India (AP) – Death continues to haunt a government hospital in north India that came under fire earlier this month after dozens of babies died within two days.
Dr. P.K. Singh, the head of the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur city, said Wednesday that at least 217 children died there in August alone due to a variety of reasons including an annual encephalitis outbreak. Singh added that 42 children have died in the last 48 hours. Seven of the deaths were from encephalitis while the others were attributed to other medical complications.
The hospital found itself in the middle of a media storm earlier this month when 33 children died there Aug. 10 and 11 around the same time as a disruption in the oxygen supply. A team of experts from New Delhi later said that the interruption was not responsible for the deaths, but there was fury in India over how the hospital let oxygen run out.
“Increase in fatality is because of seasonal infection,” Singh said, explaining the deaths. “There is no shortage of oxygen or medicine in the hospital. Children died only because of medical complication not because of medical negligence.”
It’s well-known that encephalitis wreaks havoc in the area every year during the monsoon season.