November 16, New Delhi Akhilesh Yadav, the former chief minister and leader of the Samajwadi Party (SP), expressed sorrow on Saturday over the deaths of ten newborns at a Jhansi hospital. He blamed the fire tragedy on poor equipment and careless medical management in Uttar Pradesh. Meanwhile, Mayawati, the leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), called for severe legal punishment for those responsible.

“A fire in the ‘oxygen concentrator’ is allegedly the cause of the fire.” He posted on social networking site X, saying, “This is a clear case of medical management and administration negligence or of a poor quality oxygen concentrator.”

The head of the SP called on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to prioritize enhancing the state’s healthcare system above electoral campaigning and called for severe disciplinary measures against those involved.

“The anguish can only be understood by the families who have lost their children. This is a moral obligation as much as a governmental one,” he said.

The Health Minister’s concentration on contentious politics, according to Yadav, has led to the state’s declining medical services, and he has been criticized for failing to improve the healthcare system. He urged the government to avoid such tragedies in the future and demanded Rs 1 million in compensation for each grieving family as well as improved medical treatment for the afflicted infants.

Mayawati, the BSP president and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, also conveyed her sorrow for the deaths of ten newborns. She called on the offenders to face severe legal penalties for the act.

“The very sad incident of the death of 10 newborn babies due to the fire in Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College, Jhansi, UP, has naturally caused uproar and anger,” Mayawati said in a post on X. The criminals who commit such deadly recklessness must face severe legal penalties. Such occurrences cannot be made up for; instead, the government must provide the impacted families with all the assistance they can.

At least 10 infants were murdered and 16 are fighting for their lives at the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Jhansi after a big fire broke out at the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) on Friday night. Deputy Chief Minister of UP Brajesh Pathak visited the hospital earlier on Saturday.

The fire that started in the NICU of the medical college in Jhansi may have been caused by a short circuit.

Hospital authorities said that up to 45 babies were saved out of the 54 newborns brought to the NICU unit.