Deputy chief minister of Rajasthan Sachin Pilot has said that the government response over children’s deaths in Kota hospital should have been more sensitive and compassionate. He also said that the Congress has been in power for 13 months and it is now time to face responsibility and deliver rather than blame the previous government. Pilot who is also the state Congress chief on Saturday visited the JK Lon Hospital in Kota and met the patients and their relatives apart from the hospital staff.
Pilot’s statement is being seen as a direct rebuttal to the comment by chief minister Ashok Gehlot who had cited figures of death, blamed the previous BJP government and claimed that the tally was lowest in last six years.
Speaking to the media after his inspection the deputy chief minister said, “Our response to the entire episode could have been more sensitive. We should have been more compassionate and I feel 13 months of being in the government it may not serve any purpose to keep pointing towards the previous government’s wrongdoings or misdoings because if they had done their job they would not have been voted out. We have been voted in we have to face responsibility and consequences. People elected us to deliver.”
“It is a painful to watch little children die and it is not coming to an end. I am hurt and feel that this should come to an end. People of the poorest sections come to these hospitals. It is not acceptable to the parents who have lost their children that we quote data and figures to them. We need to make the people believe that we will not accept such incidents. Accountability will have to be fixed,” said Pilot.
Pilot was in Kota a day after health minister Raghu Sharma’s visit to the hospital where 107 children have died in the last 35 days. He visited the wards and spoke to the parents of the children admitted there.
This is not the first time that Pilot has spoken against the government or the decisions being taken by chief minister. He had spoken against giving tickets to family members of established leaders before the general elections. It was seen as his advice to chief minister Ashok Gehlot who went on to field his son Vaibhav Gehlot from Jodhpur.
Pilot had also been vocal against the government’s decision to appoint persons who had not contested elections as mayor. The PCC president had termed it as an encroachment on the right of party workers.
