Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday urged Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to visit the state-run JK Lon hospital in Kota, where 100 infants died in December, and see for himself the "best facilities" provided there.
"I telephoned Central Health Minister @drharshvardhan ji and requested him to visit #Kota personally so that he can see the best of facilities and proper management by State Health Department and get himself apprised of the facts," Gehlot tweeted.
He further wrote, "Harsh Vardhan ji is himself a doctor and if he visits the hospital in #Kota, it will also clarify the situation for people, who are giving reaction mischievously, knowingly, unknowingly and also innocently." Earlier in the day, Vardhan had tweeted about sending a high-level team to the hospital to provide all assistance.
"The high-level team being despatched by @MoHFW_INDIA incl experts from AIIMS Jodhpur, Health Finance & Regional Director, Health Services Jaipur. It will reach #Kota tomorrow. In my letter too to @ashokgehlot51 ji, I've offered all possible assistance to prevent any further deaths (sic)," Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said in a tweet on Thursday," he said. Vardhan has also written to Gehlot, assuring him of all assistance. He also urged Gehlot to initiate measures to stop the deaths of children at the hospital.
"We are ready to provide any technical help or assistance. Let us ensure no child succumbs to preventable causes or due to lack of health system capacity," Vardhan has written in his letter.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday said a multi-disciplinary expert team of top paediatricians is being sent to Kota for gap analysis and ascertaining quick measures in the wake of 103 deaths of children at a hospital in the city.
Harsh Vardhan said in a tweet that he had spoken to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and assured him of all possible support to prevent more deaths of children.
"A multi-disciplinary expert team of top paediatricians is being sent by our ministry for gap analysis and quick measures to be taken," Harsh Vardhan said in a tweet.
"The high-level team being dispatched by the Ministry of Health includes experts from AIIMS Jodhpur, Health Finance and Regional Director, Health Services Jaipur. It will reach Kota tomorrow," he added.
Earlier, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and BSP chief Mayawati on Thursday targeted the Congress over infant deaths at a Rajasthan hospital, saying party leaders Priyanka Gandhi should have gone there to console the children's mothers instead of "playing politics" in UP.
Other BJP leaders have also attacked the Congress-led government in Rajasthan over the 100 deaths in December at JK Lon hospital in Kota.
