Gorakhpur children’s deaths: Rahul Gandhi had warned the Centre

When the news of death of many children in Baba Raghav Das Medical College in Gorakhpur broke, the entire national media brigade went to town with it. According to data, a total of 415 children died in the month of August only in this hospital, while in 2017, more than 1350 children have died in this hospital till now.

Gorakhpur and the nearby areas have been affected by Encephalitis for four decades now. Despite this, the careless attitude of the state government raises many questions. On one hand, state expenditure on health services have been curtailed and, on the other, many irregularities came to the fore in distribution of funds. When fingers were pointed towards the state government, it came up with many excuses. The entire government, including the Chief Minister, was busy in shrugging off responsibility and started blaming others for it.

When the vice-president of the Congress, Rahul Gandhi, went to Gorakhpur to meet the victims, the representatives of the government even made fun of him. Perhaps because of this attitude, they could never be sensitive and empathetic towards the deceased and their family members.

On this criminal callousness of the state government in Gorakhpur, Rahul Gandhi said that the NDA government at the Centre and the BJP government of the state were entirely responsible for this tragedy. Their casual attitude towards health services is no secret. Rahul Gandhi claimed that he had warned the Central government last year to provide adequate funds to BRD hospital.

In such a situation, one can’t help but say that the BJP government, being absolutely obsessed with power, has forgotten a simple and important fact that its basic duty is to serve and protect the people.