Recently Dr Kafeel Khan, one of the accused in the BRD Medical College and Hospital children’s death case in Gorakhpur, had taken to social media to spread false news that he has been given a ‘clean chit’ in the 2017 case in a departmental inquiry.
The Uttar Pradesh government has now initiated a fresh inquiry against him for spreading misinformatio in the media and forcibly entering a hospital and trying to treat patients during his suspension period.
On September 22, 2018, Dr Khan had reportedly forcibly entered the paediatric ward of the district hospital in Bahraich with some of his supporters and tried to treat patients despite being under suspension. Khan’s actions had caused panic in the ward and had also allegedly endangered the lives of critically ill children at that time. With this, Dr Khan faces a total of seven charges.
Rajnish Dubey, the Principal Secretary Medical Education Department, who heads the probe against Khan, has stated that the Khan has been found guilty of indulging in private practice and being attached to a private nursing home in Gorakhpur till April 2017. Dubey will head the probe on the fresh allegations too.
Without divulging the full details of the report, various media houses lapped up this information and reported that a departmental inquiry had ‘absolved Dr Kafeel Khan of all the charges’ of medical negligence and corruption at Gorakhpur’s BRD medical college where several infants had died due to disruption in oxygen supply over alleged nonpayment of dues. Media reports had even said that Khan has now demanded a CBI probe and referred to himself as a ‘scapegoat’.
On September 28, BRD medical college had released a statement in which it clarified that there have been reports in various media publications like Times of India, Amar Ujala, NDTV, News 18 as well as social media like WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook regarding suspended Dr Kafeel Khan absolving him of all the accusations. The statement acknowledges that Dr Kafeel Khan has also made statements on social media in this regard.
It said that while Dr Kafeel Khan has been found not guilty of negligence and corruption, but he has still been found guilty of running a private practice and two other accusations. The committee is still inquiring into the matter and no decision has been taken in case of Dr Kafeel Khan. Other than these, inquiry is still on for other accusations against him.
The administration said that it is incorrect to say that Dr Kafeel Khan has got a clean chit.
In an extremely tragic incident, 30 children had died in the Baba Raghav Das Medical College, Gorakhpur over a period of 48 hours in August 2017. Some of the deaths happened after contractors allegedly stopped supplying liquid oxygen due to non-payment of dues of about Rs 63 lakh. Khan was arrested after it was revealed that he was involved with taking oxygen cylinders meant for the hospital away for use in his own nursing home.
Khan was also allegedly arrested in 2009 in Delhi on charges of impersonating someone in the examination for medical registration. Some reports have also claimed that he was suspended from Manipal University for criminal cases against him.
