MP govt removes three senior officials after 12 children die in hospital blaze
Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had ordered a high-level enquiry into the incident.
The Madhya Pradesh government removed the dean of Gandhi Medical College Jitendra Shukla, Hamidia Hospital superintendent Lokendra Dave, and Kamla Nehru Hospital director KK Dubey on Wednesday, after a major fire broke out in the special newborn care unit (SNCU) of the Bhopal-based Kamla Nehru Children's Hospital on Monday night killing twelve newborn.
“Gandhi Medical College dean Dr Jitendra Shukla, superintendent of Hamidia Hospital Dr Lokendra Dave and Director of Gas Relief Department, KK Dubey, are removed from their posts while Avdhesh Bhadoria, a sub-engineer (electric) of the Capital Project Administration (CPA), the agency responsible for the maintenance of this hospital, has been suspended,” Medical education minister Vishvas Sarang told reporters.
The head of the pediatrics department at Kamla Nehru Hospital, Jyotsna Srivastava, told reporters that eight more children lost their lives, taking the total toll to 12. Srivastava claimed that infants did not die inside the SNCU but perished later.
“All 40 children admitted at the time were evacuated. The four children who died initially did not die inside the special newborn care unit but died because they weighed very less, had breathing issues and because of smoke their condition worsened. They died around 12 and we are calling it death due to an accident,” Srivastava told news agency ANI on Wednesday.
Opposition leader Kamal Nath paid a visit to the hospital and hit out at the BJP government in the state, stating that this was the third such incident in the last six years. "It was a very sad incident. I talked to the family members of the children who died in the incident. They are in very bad condition. This is the third incident in the past six months," he alleged.
Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had ordered a high-level enquiry into the incident. The state government also announced an ex gratia of ₹4 lakhs for the bereaved parents.
