News Analysis India

Tag: Dr Kafeel Khan

  • Suspended Dr Kafeel Khan sacked from Gorakhpur hospital over children’s death

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Doctor Kafeel Khan of Gorakhpur’s BRD Medical College and Hospital, who had been suspended in 2017 after the death of 70 children due to lack of oxygen supply to the hospital, has been dismissed, a senior government official said here on Thursday.

    Dr Khan of Gorakhpur’s BRDMCH Paediatrician Department’s has been sacked after being found guilty in the probe into the circumstances leading to the death of children in the hospital, UP Principal Secretary (Medical Education) Alok Kumar said.

    As the matter is sub judice, the detailed information about Dr Khan’s dismissal will be given to the court, Kumar added.

    Dr Khan had been attached to the office of Director General Medical Education (DGME) after his suspension on August 22, 2017 in the wake of the children’s death during the month.

    Reacting to the report of Dr Khan’s dismissal, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadhra termed his dismissal as malice-driven and aimed at harassing him.

    Expressing surprise over the reports of his dismissal, Dr Khan, said he does not know how he has been terminated despite the court giving him a clean chit earlier.

    “Principal Secretary Alok Kumar had on Wednesday released a statement about my termination from the BRD Medical college,” he said, adding he, however, has not received any termination letter as yet.

    “They have no authority to terminate me. They should have taken orders from Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) (to suspend me),” he asserted in a statement on the reports of his termination.

    “Among the eight people suspended in the lack of oxygen case in the hospital, the suspension of seven others except mine had been revoked. The court had punished all of them in one or the other manner but the honourable court had given me a clean chit on charges of medical negligence and corruption,” Dr Khan claimed.

    “I was suspended on August 22, 2017 in the case and on March 5, 2019, the Allahabad High court had asked the UP Government to end the inquiry and on April 18, 2019, the high court had given me a clean chit,” Dr Khan said.

    “When I was in jail, the UP government again set up an inquiry against me on February 24, 2020, and on August 6, 2021, the state government declared in front of the court that they are withdrawing the inquiry order of the then Chief Secretary Himanshu Kumar,” Dr Khan said.

    He also explained that even on Wednesday, the government had not told the court about his termination.

    “On November 10, 2021, there was a date in the court but the government did not submit any papers regarding termination. The next court date is on December 7, 2021. I have no hope of justice from this government,” Dr Khan added.

    After Kafeel’s dismissal, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi in a tweet in Hindi said “Dr Khan’s dismissal is driven by malice. Motivated by a hate agenda, the government is doing all this to harass him.”

    “But the government should keep in mind that it is not above the Constitution. The Congress party is with Dr Khan in his fight for justice,” she said.

  • Suspended doctor Kafeel Khan sacked by UP hospital over deaths of 70 children

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW:  After remaining suspended for four years, Dr Kafeel Khan, the paediatrician at BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur, has been terminated from service, said senior government officials said here on Thursday.

    The order of termination of Dr Kafeel Khan’s services was released by the Medical Education authorities late on Wednesday night. Dr Khan was suspended in connection with the death of 67 kids at BRD Medical College due to lack of oxygen in August, 2017.

    According to senior officials of Medical Education department, Dr Kafeel Khan was sacked after being found guilty in the probe conducted into the circumstance which led to the death of kids at BRD medical college in 2017.

    While giving the initial information about the termination of services of Dr Kafeel Khan, principal secretary, Medical Education, Alok Kumar said that as the matter was sub-judice, a detailed report in this connection would be furnished to the High Court on next date of hearing in the matter.

    At present, Dr Khan was attached to the office of Director General Medical Education (DGME) after his suspension in the case in 2017. However, reacting to the development, Dr Khan said that he had full confidence in judiciary and would challenge the dismissal order the court of law.

    Dr Khan claimed that he was surprised at the government order of dismissal as the court had given him the clean chit in the case. He added that he was yet to receive the order and that he came to know about his dismissal through media reports.

    “They have no authority to terminate me. They should have taken orders from UP Public Service Commission (UPPSC),” asserted the doctor. However, the government authorities claimed that the order of termination was released only after fulfilling due formalities.

    “I am the only one to be targetted in the case while seven others, who were suspended, were reinstated by this government. However, I have been dismissed despite High Court’s clean chit to me in negligence case on April 18, 2019,” maintained the doctor.

    It may be recalled that the doctor was given the bail by the Allahabad High Court on April 18, 2019 in BRD Kids’ death case wherein the court had observed that there was no proof of negligence against the doctor. But the matter is still sub-judice and pending in Allahabad High Court.

    Dr Kafeel said that the UP government had constituted another inquiry against him on February 24, 2020 while he was in jail in connection with his speech at AMU during anti-CAA protest. The government declared in the court on August 6, 2021 that it was withdrawing the newly constituted probe following the court’s directives.

    However, the inquiry set up against him in February, 2020 was in connection with a case lodged against him for forcibly treating the patients at the Bahraich district hospital and criticizing the policies of the government.  He was suspended in this case also by a state government order dated July 31, 2019.

    This was the second time Dr Kafeel was suspended by the state government, while he was already under suspension following the August 2017 tragedy at BRD Medical College at Gorakhpur.

    Dr Kafeel claimed that the state government did not tell the court about his termination despite there was a hearing on November 10, 2021. “The next hearing is on December 7, 2021. I never had any hope of justice from this government,” he said.

    On the other, Dr Kafeel Khan’s dismissal drew a reaction from Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who called the order to harass the doctor.  

  • Allahabad High Court seeks UP govt’s reply over Dr Kafeel’s suspension

    Express News Service
    LUCKNOW: The Allahabad High Court, on Monday, asked the Uttar Pradesh government as to why Dr Kafeel Ahmad Khan of BRD medical College, Gorakhpur, is on suspension for the last four years. The court directed the Uttar Pradesh government to file a reply in connection with a writ petition filed by Dr Kafeel Ahmad Khan by August 5.

    Dr Khan had filed the writ petition challenging his suspension from BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur on August 22, 2017 following the death of around 60 children within a span of 2-3 days due to the lack of oxygen supply.

    Hearing Dr Kafeel’s petition, Justice Yashwant Varma, on July 29 had directed the court authorities to list the matter on August 5 for the next hearing. In the present writ petition, petitioner Dr Kafeel Khan has challenged his suspension.

    Earlier, the petitioner had approached the High Court by filing a writ (no-3511 of 2019) on the ground that although he had been suspended way back in the year 2017, yet the inquiry proceedings had not been concluded till the filing of that petition.

    Acting on this writ petition, the court, by an order dated March 7, 2019, disposed the writ petition with a direction to the respondents to conclude the enquiry within three months. In the wake of the High Court order, the enquiry officer probing into the charges against Dr Kafeel Khan submitted his report on April 15, 2019. Thereafter, the disciplinary authority chose to pass the order after almost 11 months.

    Taking note of this, the court observed, “The delay in taking further action on the part of the disciplinary authority is not explained. The respondents are also obliged to justify the continuance of the order of suspension which has continued for more than four years”.

    The petitioner also mentioned in his plea that as many as eight persons were suspended along with him in this oxygen shortage case but all of them had been reinstated except the petitioner.

  • Kafeel Khan, 80 others included in list of history-sheeters in UP’s Gorakhpur

    By PTI
    GORAKHPUR: Dr Kafeel Khan and 80 others have been included in the list of history-sheeters in Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh and they will be on the radar of police, officials said.

    The 81 people have been included in the list on the instruction of Senior Superintendent of Police Jogendra Kumar, they said.

    The district now has a total of 1,543 history-sheeters, or persons with a criminal record.

    Kafeel Khan’s brother Adeel Khan, however, told PTI that the history-sheet against the doctor was opened on June 18, 2020, but the information was given to the media on Friday.

    In a video message released on Saturday, Kafeel Khan said, “The UP government has opened my history-sheet. They say that they will monitor me for life. Good, give two security guards who will keep an eye on me for 24 hours. At least, I will be able to save myself from fake cases.”

    “In Uttar Pradesh, the situation is such that the criminals are not monitored, but the history-sheet of innocent persons is opened,” he charged.

    Khan was arrested in January 2020 after a speech he had delivered at the Aligarh Muslim University on December 10, 2019 during the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protests.

    He was subsequently booked under the stringent National Security Act (NSA).

    On September 1, 2020, the Allahabad High Court had quashed Khan’s detention under the NSA and ordered his immediate release, saying his speech at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) didn’t promote hatred or violence.

    In his video message, Khan also said he had written to the state government requesting it to reinstate him at his post in Gorakhpur’s Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College.

    Khan hit the headlines after the 2017 tragedy at the BRD Medical College, in which several children died due to lack of oxygen cylinders.

    Initially, he was hailed as a saviour for the children for arranging emergency oxygen cylinders but later, faced action, along with nine other doctors and staff members of the hospital, all of whom were released on bail later.