LUCKNOW, India: More than 30 children have died at a government-run hospital in northern India over 48 hours, police said Friday, allegedly due to lack of oxygen supply to the wards housing the sick.
The children were admitted at the Baba Raghav Das Hospital in Gorakhpur district of northern Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populated state ruled by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party.
“The hospital has said that 23 children died on Thursday and 11 today. At the moment we only have this information,” senior police superintendent Satyarth Aniruddha Pankaj told AFP by phone.
“The matter is being investigated.”
Multiple local media reports said the children died after the company which was supplying oxygen stopped the service, apparently over non-payment of dues running into millions of rupees.
City magistrate V K Srivastava however denied the allegations and said the hospital had enough oxygen cylinders in stock.
“The deaths were not due to lack of oxygen as is being reported. The supply was stopped yesterday (Thursday) but the hospital has enough cylinders in stock,” he told AFP.
“Many acute cases are referred to the hospital and on an average 10-11 kids die daily. A team has been set up to look into the matter.”
State-run hospitals in India are often stretched to breaking point, with patients facing long delays for even minor treatment and forced to share beds.
As a result, Indians avoid the state-run system if they can, with many flocking to private clinics and hospitals.
But a consultation with a private GP can cost 1,000 rupees ($15), a huge sum for millions living on less than $2 a day.
30 children die in India hospital over two days: police
30 children die in India hospital over two days: police
Cuba says a 5th person died after people on a Florida-flagged speedboat opened fire on soldiers
- Authorities in Cuba said that on Feb. 26 Cuban soldiers confronted a speedboat carrying 10 people as the vessel approached the island and opened fire on the troops
- The shooting threatened to increase tensions between US President Donald Trump and Cuban authorities
HAVANA: Cuba said a fifth person has died as a consequence of a fatal shootout last month involving a Florida-flagged speedboat that allegedly opened fire on soldiers in waters off the island nation’s north coast.
The island’s interior ministry said late Thursday in a statement that Roberto Álvarez Ávila died on March 4 as a result of his injuries. It added that the remaining injured detainees “continue to receive specialized medical care according to their health status.”
Authorities in Cuba said that on Feb. 26 Cuban soldiers confronted a speedboat carrying 10 people as the vessel approached the island and opened fire on the troops. They said the passengers were armed Cubans living in the US who were trying to infiltrate the island and “unleash terrorism”. Cuba said its soldiers killed four people and wounded six others.
“The statements made by the detainees themselves, together with a series of investigative procedures, reinforce the evidence against them,” the Cuban interior ministry said in its statement, adding that “new elements are being obtained that establish the involvement of other individuals based in the US”
Earlier this week, Cuba said it had filed terrorism charges against six suspects that were on the speedboat. The government unveiled items said to have been found on the boat, including a dozen high-powered weapons, more than 12,800 pieces of ammunition and 11 pistols.
Cuban authorities have provided few details about the shooting, but said the boat was roughly 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) northeast of Cayo Falcones, off the country’s north coast. They also provided the boat’s registration number, but The Associated Press was unable to readily verify the details because boat registrations are not public in the state of Florida.
The shooting threatened to increase tensions between US President Donald Trump and Cuban authorities. The island’s economy was until recently largely kept economically afloat by Venezuela’s oil, which is now in doubt after a US military operation deposed then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
