Gorakhpur Hospital Kickbacks Behind Deaths

Lack of accountability and unabashed greed took the lives of the children in Gorakhpur

- Ajay Uprety

August 1 was the happiest day in Bhramdev Yadav’s life. His wife, Suman, had given birth to a boy and a girl on that day after eight years of marriage. The babies were born healthy but had a slight fever the next day. Yadav, who lives in Baghagara village, took them to Baba Raghav Das Medical College 10km away in Gorakhpur, and they were admitted there on August 3. They showed no improvement in the following five days. “Every day doctors would draw some blood from the babies and recommend a test. When I asked why their condition was not improving, they scolded me and asked me to mind my business,” said Yadav.

The babies’ condition deteriorated on August 8. Yadav was more worried, as he had seen children dying at the medical college. “I requested the doctor to discharge my babies so that I could take them elsewhere for treatment. But I was abused by the doctors on duty,” he said. His son died on August 9, and his daughter the next day.

A farmer, Yadav does not understand medical parlance, nor he knows about treatment regimen. But he knows why his children died. “Both were on oxygen in the ICU and I saw the supply suddenly dipping, doctors running here and there and whispering about how to restore the supply. But by that time it was too late,” he said. He buried the twins in an open area near the hospital. His village has a water logging problem during the rains.

Yadav wants to go to court seeking an autopsy. “I do not mind digging up the bodies,” he said. “At least I will know what happened to my healthy children. The doctors do not tell you anything.”