Author and journalist Neelesh Mishra, founder of rural news platform Gaon Connection, in a string on tweets has given some shocking revelations about the Gorakhpur tragedy.
#THREAD #Gorakhpur children’s death story becoming a thriller with cascading angles. Mentioning some here, more details in @GaonConnection
— Neelesh Misra (@neeleshmisra) August 15, 2017
He further put the following questions on Twitter:
1. INOX and Linde Gas are reputed companies supplying liquid Oxygen to hospitals including in UP: KGMC and SGPGI.
1 (a) However, #Gorakhpur Hospital chose Pushpa Sales to sell it Oxygen THAT IT BOUGHT FROM INOX. Why not buy straight from INOX?
1 (b) I asked around. INOX and Linde NEVER pay kickbacks to officials. Is that why an intermediary was created for years?
1 (c) When UP’s major hospitals including KGMC and SGPGI but Oxygen straight from manufacturers why not at #Gorakhpur ?
2. Why did the #Gorakhpur Hospital continue with the same Oxygen vendor, Pushpa Sales, for years?
3. Did the UP health minister, Pp Secy, DG Med Edu not receive the panic letters on payment or were they ignored?
4. Why was the UP CM’s office misled into tweeting immediately after the new spate of #Gorakhpur deaths to deny Ocygen shortage as a cause?
5. Then-hospital head Misra: Steps were taken to get enough cylinders. Dr Kafeel called a hero for “going to get” 3 cylinders. Who is lying? With 23 dying, why did Kafeel leave ward personally in crisis to do a chore (getting cylinders) someone else could do?
6. DG Med Education tells @GaonConnection payment transferred Aug 5. Why didn’t Principal pay firm immediately for Oxygen?
7. If an inquiry had been ordered by the UP Govt, why were Principal Misra and HOD Dr Kafeel fired without waiting for its findings?
8. Principal Misra could have averted Oxygen crisis by paying Rs. 1.25 cr available under other heads. Why did he block it?
9. Why have the health minister and medical education minister not been taken to task? Why are they deciding who is guilty?
10. How will it be determined if Oxygen shortage cause the children’s deaths? Were their fingertips and lips blue?
11. Why did the hospital admn force parents to leave with their dead kids in the middle of the night? What were they hiding?
12. Will Chief Secy Rajiv Kumar’s inquiry travel to villages of the dead children to get to the truth of what really happened that night?
12. Will bodies be exhumed? What will inquiry be based on? (Bodies of infants are not cremated under Hindu tradition).
14. Why did Principal Misra and Dr Kafeel not raise the issue of the Oxygen crisis when the CM stool a review on Aug 9?
15. Why did the #Gorakhpur DM not react to news reports of impending Oxygen crisis in @JagranNews and @AmarUjalaNews?
16. Why has the responsibility of the UP NRHM Head not been fixed over this entire crisis?
17. Is it just a coincidence that the night the Oxygen crisis happened is also the night of a surge in children’s deaths?
Meanwhile, reports are emerging that Dr. Kafeel Khan, who was hailed as a hero by the media before shady details about his past emerged, has gone underground. His private nursing home is closed since Monday morning and the patients have been discharged in a hurry. Shutting down of his clinic overnight has raised quite a few eyebrows and an inquiry could be made against him soon.
You could read our other reports on the tragedy here and here.
