The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday, October 3, said that a new departmental investigation had been initiated against Dr Kafeel Khan for spreading incorrect and misleading information about the inquiry report and for making “anti-government” remarks during his suspension, The Hindu reported.
The State has also held Dr Kafeel responsible for “causing panic” by forcibly entering the paediatric department of the district hospital with “three, four outsiders” on September 22, 2018.
Dr Kafeel was a paediatrician at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College and Hospital in Gorakhpur, where 63 children died in 2017 due to lack of oxygen.
The doctor was jailed for nine months after a criminal case of medical negligence, corruption and dereliction of duty was filed against him.
The fresh inquiry increases the total number of charges against Dr Kafeel to seven. A senior official said that four of the previous allegations against the doctor were pending and require departmental action.
Last week, a state government inquiry had cleared Dr Kafeel of all charges and praised him for his efforts to save lives of children during the crisis.
The report stated that no proof of medical negligence and corruption had been found against Dr Kafeel. The inquiry also found that the doctor was not responsible for the ward where the deaths had occurred and did not have anything to do with the “storage, tendering, payments, orders, supply or arrangements” of liquid oxygen.
The investigation also found no evidence to establish that he held a private medical practice at the time of the tragedy.
It concluded that the charges against him were “baseless and inconsistent”.
Those parents who lost their infants are still waiting for the justice.I demand that government should apologize and give compensation to the victim families.@PTI_News @TimesNow @myogiadityanath @narendramodi @ndtv @ravishndtv @abhisar_sharma @yadavakhilesh @RahulGandhi @UN pic.twitter.com/WaTwQSCUuZ
— Dr kafeel khan (@drkafeelkhan) September 27, 2019
However, on Thursday, Dube, the investigating officer in the case said: “The allegation against Kafeel Khan that he used to do private practice while he was a government employee, a senior resident doctor and ran a private nursing home has been proven.”
“The decision regarding action on this allegation is under process. The final decision on two other allegations against Khan is yet to be taken by the administration,” Dube said.
The doctor, however, opposed the allegations and claimed the UP government was trying to divert the attention of people from problems. “They are doing so many press conference on Kafeel Khan I request them to do one conference on the kids who died of a sudden shortage of liquid oxygen,” he tweeted.
To divert fm the real issues #whokilledourchildren @myogiadityanath Govt has framed 3 new charges on me.
They r doing so many press conference on @drkafeelkhan I request them to do one conference on the kids who died of sudden shortage of liquid oxygen��@narendramodi @PTI_News— Dr Kafeel Khan (@drkafeelkhan) October 3, 2019
