Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi : Congress target the spate of infant deaths in BJP ruled Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh continue unabated as a result of their gross complicity and utter negligence. 61 children have died in 72 hours in Gorakhpur. More than 300 children have died in the same BRD Hospital in this month alone.Notwithstanding the shameful tragedy which we saw when 64 children were killed due to shortage of oxygen, the sheer complacency of the BJP Government under Adityanath continues.
In another BJP ruled state- Rajasthan, 81 children have died in Banswara’sM G hospital in the last 53 days. 236 infants have been died in this year alone (Jan—33, Feb—26, March—28, April—23, May—24, June—21, July—50, Aug—31)
Recently, 3 children were dead in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur, due to lack of oxygen.
In Jharkhand, another dark chapter is being written in Jamshedpur and Ranchi. The downright callousness of the BJP led Raghubhar Das Government is responsible for the deaths of 164 children in the past 4 months in Jamshedpur. 60 of these deaths have taken place in the last month itself. In capital, Ranchi- 133 deaths have been reported in the past 28 days. This means almost 300 children have died in the two biggest Government hospitals of the state, so you can understand what the situation in the entire state would be.
The Congress has started protests in Jamshedpur, seeing this gross criminal negligence, which happens to be the home district of the Chief Minister of Jharkhand. The Congress filed an FIR Jamshedpur against the Chief Minister, ShriRaghubhar Das, Health Minister ShriRanchandraChandravanshi and senior health authorities. The Congress party also filed a complaint with the NHRC which has issued a notice to the Chief Sec (Govt of Jharkhand) seeking report in 6 weeks. Our protests in Jamshedpur continue, due to which the High Court has also taken cognizance and asked the Civil and Session judge to visit the hospital and give a report.
The Jharkhand Governor, who was in Jamashedpur has commented that these children deaths have to be stopped.
What is more shocking that the Chief Minister has not spoken a word about this tragedy or visited the hospital, despite it being in his home district.
Today, it has come to light that over 133 children in RIMS, Ranchi. The BJP Government is claiming that these deaths are due to malnutrition. What is a big pointer here is the total collapse of the Central Government machinery as far as the health of these children of this country are concerned. It is important to note that out of the 6 incubators in Jamshedpur, 2 incubators were not functional. Also 1 incubator is supposed to take care one infant, while the Government and the hospital authorities were keeping 3-4 infants in a single incubator. 6 ventilators in the pediatric ward were dysfunctional. The cramping of cribs also lead to high rate of deaths.
The Jharkhand government said that reason for these deaths is malnutrition but at the same time they forget that it was the Modi Government at Centre which has slashed the allocation of funds for schemes tackling malnutrition by 50%. This is the primary reason for the increase in ‘malnutrition deaths’ in Jharkhand.
Earlier Rs 21,000 croreswere allocated for Women and Child Developlment Schemes but in March 2015, the Modi Government has reduced it to mere Rs 10, 286.73 Crores.
He said congress demand the resignation of the Chief Minister of Jhakhand, Shri Raghbhar Das and the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Adityanath for this utterly callous lapse which lead to the unfortunate death of 300 children in the state. We also demand the Health Minister of Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh be immediately sacked, pending a judicial enquiry.
The Congress party shall continue its protests throughout the state and will keep building pressure to ensure accountability. We also demand the Prime Minister to look into the serious deficiencies in the Health infrastructure in BJP ruled states. The Women and Child Development Ministry should immediately release more funds to Jharkhand to tackle this extremely important issue.
