KOCHI: Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday reiterated Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his colleagues were responsible for the children’s death in Gorakhpur’s BRD Medical College. He also termed baseless the criticism of Yogi Adityanath that Azad had not anything for the Gorakhpur hospital during his tenure as the Union Health Minister. “During my tenure as the Union Health Minister, delegation of senior health officers had visited the medical college hospital 17 times to take stock of the situation there.
This apart, I had allocated funds from the Union Ministry for the development of the hospital. Of all the medical colleges in the country, the highest amount was allotted to the Gorakhpur hospital during my tenure,” he told reporters here on Monday. During his visit to the BRD Medical College Hospital in Gorakhpur the other day, Yogi Adithyanath had alleged Azad had said he could not do anything to combat Japanese encephalitis in Gorakhpur since health was a state subject. However, the Congress leader said Yogi Adithyanath had not approached him with the issue when he was the Union Health Minister.
“It was Congress leaders who first reached the Gorakhpur hospital on hearing reports of children’s death. The Union Ministers and others visited the hospital only after they returned to New Delhi,” he alleged. Earlier, Azad inaugurated the birth centenary celebrations of Indira Gandhi, organised by DCC at the Town Hall here. Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, KPCC president M M Hassan and others attended.