‘UP govt hiding actual death toll in Jhansi hospital fire’: Akhilesh Yadav at HTLS
HTLS 2024: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said if the Yogi Adityanath government had improved health infrastructure, the incident would not have occurred
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday hit out at the Yogi Adityanath government over the deaths of newborn babies at a hospital in Jhansi.
“There is a 500-bed hospital in Jhansi that was built by the Samajwadi Party government. If the current government had improved the infrastructure, this incident would not have happened,” Yadav said at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2024.
“Why isn't the government working properly? These people who plant ‘landmines’ in society are not worried about hospitals and health. Are the AIIMS built during the SP government's tenure functional?” the former UP chief minister asked.
“Are there adequate doctors and infrastructure in these AIIMS? If the infrastructure is not there, what can we expect from Jhansi? It is a failure of the state government. Do the governments in Delhi and UP have any answer?” Akhilesh Yadav added.
"A similar incident happened in Gorakhpur where several children died due to oxygen shortage. The government is hiding the death figures.
When the investigation results will be out, you will come to know how many children died in Jhansi," he said.
ALSO READ | Jhansi hospital fire: 10 newborn babies killed, over 35 rescued; CM Yogi orders probe. What happened? | Key updates
The fire which broke out late on Friday, claimed the lives of at least 10 newborn babies, who died due to burns and suffocation from the massive fire in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in the medical college in Jhansi.
Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak had said that the bodies of seven children had been identified but the rest three remained unidentified. He added that efforts were underway to establish their identities and contact their families.
ALSO READ | PM Narendra Modi says Jhansi hospital fire ‘heartbreaking’; CM Yogi announces ex gratia for victims
CM Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also condoled the demise of the newborn babies. Adityanath also ordered the Jhansi divisional commissioner and deputy inspector general of police, Jhansi, to probe the incident, asking them to submit a report within 12 hours.
An ex-gratia from the UP government was also announced, with ₹5 lakh each to the families of children who died in the incident and ₹50,000 to families of those injured.
