Rajasthan’s Congress government led by CM Ashok Gehlot is facing heat over more than 100 infant deaths in 33 days at a Kota hospital. JK Lon hospital saw 104 infants die due to lack of medical facilities and unhygienic conditions for which the Congress led state government has been facing severe backlash from ordinary citizens and opposition parties.
Even though CM Gehlot says his government is sensitive towards the issue, his callousness comes to the fore when he says “this is nothing new, kids die every year and it happens in Jaipur as well.”
Shame on these vultures.
“Kids die, nothing new in it,” Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot after 100 children die in Kota in December.#KotaKeDoshi pic.twitter.com/AsbO2EDlm5
— Gyanendra Giri (@iGyanendraGiri) January 2, 2020
If the CM’s reaction was just insensitive, the state health minister Raghu Sharma was not just callous but arrogant as well. He refused to answer media questions and did not even have the courtesy to visit the hospital to extend sympathies to the grieving families.
https://twitter.com/rose_k01/status/1212653617552867329
However, it was not just the state leaders and ministers who showed apathy towards the entire incident but Congress top leadership and the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty were also out to prove that they couldn’t care less. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra instead of seeking accountability from Congress CM Gehlot was busy targeting UP government led by BJP CM Yogi Adityanath. BSP Supremo Mayawati attacked Priyanka Vadra for showing ‘fake sympathy’ in UP when she didn’t even visit the families of the deceased children in a bid to comfort the grieving mothers. She has also asked for the resignation of CM Gehlot following the tragedy.
Besides the Congress leaders, journalists who are rightly known as ‘Congress slaves’, have also remained tight lipped about the entire incident. Nidhi Razdan who wanted UP government to act responsibly when there were infant deaths in Gorakhpur, UP did not feel the need to ask questions of Congress led Rajasthan government and the party.
https://twitter.com/Being_Vinita/status/1212660131898568704
Double standards of Lutyens’ media The Wire was exposed in the manner in which it covered incidents of infant deaths in UP and Rajasthan.
One website. Two tragedies. Two headlines.
And they ask why people are so implacably angry with Lutyens media.#KotaTragedy #KotaKeDoshi pic.twitter.com/jsLzHSrVIa— 🐺 (@__werewolf__) January 3, 2020
There has either been a deafening silence or muted criticism of the Congress government from other Lutyens’ media journalists and publications as well.
Meanwhile Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has assured support of the Centre and has said that the health ministry will be sending a team of experts for “gap analysis and quick measures to be taken”. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has also stepped in to assess the situation. Their inspection has found serious lapses such as shortage of staff, pigs roaming around within the hospital compound etc.
On the other hand, hospital authorities have replaced the nursing in-charge of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. A committee of three doctors, constituted by the state government, also assessed the ground situation and while admitting the need for improvement in infrastructure and facilities, gave a clean chit to on duty doctors.
It is the duty of a responsible government to fix accountability but when the leaders themselves, no less than the CM and health minister, shrug off the incident by claiming that the deaths are ‘lower’ than previous years, it calls for serious introspection. But that has always been Congress’ style of functioning – demand responsibility from all except their own.
(Featured Image source: NDTV)
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