Kota | Jagran News Desk: Three more children died in the JK Lone hospital in Rajasthan's Kota district on the first two days of the new year, taking the death toll to 103. As per reports, 12 children have died in the last 72 hours prompting the Centre to step into the matter.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that he has written a letter to the Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot over the deaths of children at Kota in Rajasthan.
"I have written a letter to the Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot requesting him to look into the matter," he said while speaking to mediapersons.
"Number of deaths (Kota) is definitely higher this time as compared to the last few years," he added.
The authorities at the JK Lon Hospital, however, defended the alarming casualty figures saying that the number of deaths at the health facility in 2019 was less than 1,005 in 2018.
The rising number of deaths also forced Congress president Sonia Gandhi to seek an explanation from the party’s state president Avinash Pandey. Pandey said a detailed report on the deaths has been submitted to the Congress chief.
Following the severe criticism of the state government by the BJP, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said that political shouldn't be played over the issue.
"Govt is sensitive towards the issue and politics should not be played on it. Central team is welcome to visit and offer their suggestions for improvement of medical facilities in the state," he said.
While several media reports claimed that the most of the ventilators, nebulisers and warmers in the hospital were obsolete, the hospital superintendent asserted that the children died mainly due to low birth weight.
Earlier, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) had served a show cause notice to the Congress government in the state.
"Pigs were found roaming inside the campus of the hospital," its chairperson Priyank Kanoongo had said.
On Wednesday, BSP supremo Mayawati slammed Congress General Secetary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for not paying heed to the Kota hospital tragedy in the Congress-ruled Rajasthan.
In a series of tweets in Hindi, Mayawati slammed Priyanka and said: "It is very sad that the Congress General Secretary is keeping mum on the deaths of 100 children in the Kota hospital. It would have been better if like Uttar Pradesh, she would have met the mothers of the children who have died in the hospital, due to the apathy of the government of her party in the state.
"If the Congress General Secretary does not go and meet the Kota families who are affected by the tragedy, then her outreach towards victims in Uttar Pradesh would be considered political opportunism, from which the public of Uttar Pradesh is advised to stay alert."
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Mayawati further said that the attitude of the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan was condemnable as it has mismanaged the situation of the 100 children deaths in Kota and still remains irresponsible and unsympathetic to the situation.
On Wednesday, Priyanka Gandhi had raised the issue of a 14 month girl child who was separated from her parents in Varanasi after they were jailed due to anti-CAA protests.