BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh's Deputy Chief Minister and Health Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Rajendra Shukla, is once again targeted by the Opposition party, following a fire at the Gynaecology Operation Theatre (OT) in a government hospital in Rewa district.
The state Congress chief has also demanded Shukla’s resignation while sharing a video of rats at a hospital, which he claimed was at the Jabalpur district hospital.
On Sunday afternoon, while a caesarean surgery was underway at the Gynaecology OT of the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital in Rewa, smoke suddenly started emanating, followed by a blaze.
With the surgery being in the last stages after the birth of the stillborn child, the mother was safely evacuated out of the OT, and the baby’s charred body was left behind in the surgical tray.
While a probe has been initiated in the matter to find what triggered the blaze and fix accountability for the lapses, the state Congress chief Jitu Patwari demanded the resignation of Rajendra Shukla over the incident.
“When the health minister cannot manage the health system in his own district, what can be expected from him for the entire State. Notably, the hospital’s medical superintendent, Dr Rahul Mishra, is the nephew of Lok Sabha member from adjoining Sidhi district, Rajesh Mishra. Previously too several incidents of negligence have come to light at the same hospital, but no one has been held accountable. Even after hundreds of deaths across the State due to the government’s negligence, why has Rajendra Shukla not been asked to resign?” Patwari questioned.
On Monday, Patwari shared on X a video of rats at a hospital, claiming it to be visuals from the Jabalpur district hospital. “When the government hospitals aren’t safe, where on earth will the commoners go for treatment? If you have even the slightest concern for the state, then resign immediately and do justice to the people of MP.”
The deputy CM has been regularly on the Congress’s radar in the recent past due to the deaths of 24 kids due to cough syrup poisoning in Chhindwara and adjoining districts, and also due to the deaths of two newborn babies following rat bites at the MY Hospital in Indore.