Media’s hero Dr. Kafeel Khan, who was wrongly applauded as the man of action during the BRD Hospital tragedy in Gorakhpur is once again in trouble. At the time of this tragedy which resulted in death of several children, the news traders immediately painted him as some sort of a hero. Dr. Kafeel Khan was the head of encephalitis ward in BRD Hospital. Encephalitis is the disease that resulted in the death of children in the hospital on the fateful day.
At the time, the media started hailing Dr. Kafeel Khan as the man who saved several lives. Reports suggested that Khan collected several oxygen cylinders from various nursing homes and saved the lives of hundreds of children. It was propagated that Khan borrowed three oxygen cylinders from other nursing homes when the oxygen supply at the BRD hospital suddenly dipped. It was also being said that Dr. Kafeel Khan bought 17 oxygen cylinders out of his own pocket in order to save as many lives as possible. Thereafter, his removal as the nodal officer at the BRD hospital and replacement by Dr. Bhupendra Sharma was projected as a perfidious move on the part of the government by the media. Dr. Kafeel Khan was shown to be a victim of a hasty decision taken by the government.
However, as it later turned out, Khan was no hero in reality. Whatever media spoke about him were mere concoctions and the reality was totally different. It came to light that Khan had been stealing oxygen cylinders from the hospital for his personal clinic. In fact, the insufficiency of oxygen supply at the hospital can also be attributed to how Khan had been stealthily transporting oxygen cylinders which belonged to the hospital to his personal clinic. Dr. Rajiv Mishra, the principal who was sacked was also said to be working in this conspiracy with Kafeel Khan. Another legitimate question that was raised at that time was that how could the nodal officer not be aware of dwindling oxygen supply at the hospital? It is shocking that he acted only after getting a distress call. What is even more shocking is the fact that the three oxygen cylinders which he purportedly borrowed from some nursing home were actually taken from his personal clinic. Adverts of his clinic were also found pasted on the walls of the BRD hospital. His real face came out in the open and despite all attempts media was no longer able to showcase him as a man of crisis. As it turned out Kafeel Khan was no hero. In fact, it was he who was liable for the unfortunate and tragic deaths that took place at the BRD hospital.
Now, Dr. Kafeel Khan is in the middle of yet another controversy. This time around the media’s hero who is out on bail in connection with death of infants at the BRD hospital last year has been arrested for arguing with doctors and “disturbing” treatment being given to patients at the district hospital in Bahraich. Khan’s brother once again played the victim card and alleged that Kafeel has been arrested just before he was going to address the media about deaths due to acute encephalitis syndrome in the state. Superintendent of police, Sabharaj Singh said, “Police got information that a person entered the hospital and disturbed treatment being given to the patients admitted there. He was also arguing with the doctors. The person was later arrested and introduced himself as Dr Kafeel Khan”. After this incident, it has become even clearer that Kafeel Khan is the real culprit and not the hero/man of action that he was shown to be. It is shameful that even though he belongs to the noble medical profession, he is acting in the most callous manner. He is a real danger to the society and strict action must now be taken against him. It is only appropriate that he has been arrested and sent to jail once again.