An official of the Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday announced that paediatrician Kafeel Khan had been dismissed from employment. The move triggered a response from Congress leaders who vowed support for Khan.
Khan was working at Gorakhpur's BRD Medical College and Hospital when he was suspended in 2017 after the death of 70 children due to oxygen shortage at the facility. Khan has maintained he had been made a scapegoat in the incident.
UP Principal Secretary (Medical Education) Alok Kumar told mediapersons Khan had been sacked after being found guilty in the probe into the circumstances leading to the death of the children. He added detailed information about Khan's dismissal would be given in court.
In September 2019, a UP government inquiry had absolved Kafeel Khan of any negligence. Principal Secretary (Stamp and Registration) Himanshu Kumar, who investigated Khan's case, had absolved him of any medical negligence but an adviser to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had said the inquiry had not disproved the charge that the doctor also ran a private practice.
"It is not right to say that Dr Kafeel Khan got a clean chit in the departmental inquiry,” CM’s adviser Mrityunjay Kumar had said in a statement.
Congress leaders expressed support for Khan after news of his sacking emerged. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted on Thursday, "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."
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who is leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, tweeted early on Friday that the dismissal of Kafeel Khan "exhibited the communal teeth of @myogiadityanath govt". Chowdhury argued, "The vengeance of Yogi knows no limit. Kafeel Khan is an ideal doctor of the country that is why he is punished."
Khan had told mediapersons that he had not received any formal communication from the state government on his dismissal. Khan told mediapersons he would challenge the move in court once he received formal communication.
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He told The Telegraph "I will challenge the decision of the Yogi Adityanath government and can tell you that I will get my job back at any cost because I have not committed any mistake and was never involved in any corruption... I had saved dozens of children when they were dying at BRD Medical College because of shortage of liquid oxygen. Of the eight doctors and staff who had been suspended, seven have been reinstated. I am the only one who is being punished just because I speak the truth and it doesn’t suit the chief minister."