In a letter dated 18 April, Dr Kafeel Khan, who is currently behind bars for the death of 63 infants in Gorakhpur, writes that he has been made a scapegoat for what was clearly a failure at the administrative levels.
Khan is among the accused who were arrested after the infants died at the BRD Medical College in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur due to a shortage in oxygen supply in August last year.
He was taken to the hospital earlier this week after his wife Dr Shabista Khan alleged her jailed husband was being denied medical care.
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In his letter, Khan alleges that despite having been on sanctioned leave, he rushed back to the hospital on 10 August, as soon as he received a WhatsApp message intimating him of the situation.
Khan says that he ‘begged’ for help, doing his best to save the ‘innocent lives from dying’.
I begged gas suppliers – Modi Gas, Balaji, Imperial Gas, Mayur Gas Agency, all the hospitals around around BRD Medical College – after arranging their contact numbers for jumbo cylinders to save hundreds of lives of innocent kids.
Thanking the Seema Suraksha Bal for its help, Khan says that a group of soldiers arranged for a truck to carry empty cylinders from BRD to the gas agencies to fill them, and refill them as and when required.
Asserting that he along with his team had done everything they could, Khan says they did not stop till when the liquid oxygen tank arrived.
We did not stop trying until liquid oxygen tank arrived around 1:30 am on 13-08-2017.
Meanwhile, according to a report carried by The Wire, Uttar Pradesh government has denied that the children died due to a shortage in oxygen supply, instead maintaining that the deaths were due to natural causes.
‘Meeting Yogi Tuned my Life Upside Down’
Khan recounts how meeting with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on 13 August ‘turned his life upside down.’
But my life turned upside down when CM Yogiji Maharaj arrived next morning on 13-08-17. He asked – so you are Dr Kafeel? You arranged cylinders? I was like – yes sir. He got angry – so you think by arranging cylinders, you became hero, I will see it. Yogiji was angry because – how this incident came into the media.
Following this, he alleges that the police began coming to his house and hounding his family, fearing which he surrendered before the police, despite having done no wrong.
I surrendered to save my family from the humiliation, misery – thinking when I have not done anything wrong, I should get justice.
Khan further alleges that those who should be held responsible are the DM Gorakhpur, DGME (director general of medical education), principal secretary health education, who have made him and the others the scapegoats to escape punishment.
It was a total administrative failure at higher level, they did not realise the gravity and just to save themselves, they made us scapegoat and put us behind the bars so that truth will remain inside Gorakhpur jail.
Referring to the recent bail that was awarded to the director of Pushpa Sales, the gas agency embroiled in the case, Khan ends his letter by stating that he is still waiting for his turn.
Addressing a press conference on Saturday, Khan’s wife Dr Shabista Khan alleged that her husband was being mistreated in the jail, and was avoided treatment.
Speaking to The Quint, Dr Shabista said:
My husband’s health is deteriorating every day. He is a heart patient and his blood pressure is running high with medicines. He had a severe chest pain so we pressed the authorities to take him to the hospital for a check-up. An ECG and a blood test was done, and some more tests are scheduled for next week. We haven’t been informed about the results.
Khan was booked for ‘attempt to murder’ and his family has applied for his bail six times in the last seven months.
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