The vice chancellor of the Medical University in Saifai, Uttar Pradesh, has confirmed the deaths of 96 children.
Vice-Chancellor T. Prabhakar said the children had died due to excessive workload and malnutrition.
Prabhakar cited the lack of beds and doctors at the hospital as the main reason for the death of the children.
He said, "We have the capacity of 800 beds, but admit 1200 patients every day. We deliver 45 babies everyday, but have the capacity and capability to deliver only 30-35 everyday. Ninety percent of the patients who come for delivery are anaemic and malnourished."
Open defecation was also cited as another reason for the high number of deaths taking place in the medical complex.
The Medical Investigator of Etawah has looked into the matter and according to him, the hospital was run by former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. The hospital is said to be facing neglect since the coming of the BJP government in the state.
This is not the first incident of children dying in Uttar Pradesh. Over 70 children had died in the Baba Raghav Das (B.R.D.) Medical College in Gorakhpur due to lack of oxygen supply in a week and another 70 in four days, thereafter. The hospital as well as the government had received flak over the negligence.
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