Gorakhpur tragedy: Dr Kafeel Khan made scapegoat, say AIIMS resident doctors

NEW DELHI: Resident doctors of AIIMS condemned the sacking of paediatrician Dr Kafeel Khan on Monday, alleging that he had been made a “scapegoat” in the tragic incident in which 30 children had died within a span of 48 hours. Dr Ahmad, who was the nodal officer at the state-run hospital’s paediatric department, had been hailed as a hero for saving the lives of scores of children after he reportedly bought oxygen cylinders with his own money during the crisis at Gorakhpur-based BRD Medical College Hospital.‬ “With great pain we have to say that once again a doctor has been made a scapegoat for the infrastructural lapse and failure of the government,”president of the resident doctors association at AIIMS, Dr Harjit Singh Bhatti, said. The association has written a letter condemning Khan’s sacking and has also accused the Uttar Pradesh government of “gross neglect of public health.” “If oxygen, gloves, surgical instruments and basic medicines are not available in the hospital, then who is responsible? According to the government, the doctor is responsible. “I request politicians not to spoil this relationship between the patient and the doctor to hide their incompetency,” Bhatti said in the letter. More than 70 children have reportedly died  over the last six days and at least 30 deaths in two days in the hometown of Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Yogi Adityanath. Many of the victims were infants admitted at the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit. PTI inputs