Gorakhpur tragedy: Deaths due to lack of oxygen is heinous, guilty won't be spared, says CM

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday termed the tragic deaths of more than 60 children in a Gorakhpur hospital as “unfortunate” and said that his government would take strict action if anybody was found guilty.

Addressing the media here, the chief minister stressed that he would first get his facts right before taking any action against any individual.

He said that he has ordered the state chief secretary to probe the oxygen supplier of the hospital if there was a case of short-supply.

“The supplier is to be blamed in case there is such a case. I had already asked the hospitals to maintain an emergency stock of supplies to fight the vector-borne diseases,” he said, adding he had visited the hospital on July 9 to take stock of the preparedness of the staff to tackle encephalitis and dengue.

Adityanath said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed deep concern over the tragic incident and offered all help to deal with the situation.

He also said that he had sent two ministers to the hospital to get a first-hand report after the media highlighted about the incident.

“I’m glad the media highlighted it. The incident is very unfortunate, my condolences to families,” he said.

At least 60 children had died in the Baba Raghav Das Medical College in Gorakhpur over the past few days, drawing sharp reactions from various quarters against the Yogi-led government.