Congress leader Sachin Pilot has described the death of 11 people with special needs at a government-run home in Rajasthan criminal neglect.
The former MP from Rajasthan demanded accountability for those responsible for these deaths.
11 people with special needs, including seven children, who were staying at a government-run home in Rajasthan’s Jamdoli died on Friday.
Their deaths, according to several media reports, were due to drinking of of contaminated water.
Another three children continue to be in critical condition at a hospital in Jaipur, 18 km from the home where they fell sick.
An NDTV report said that people at the home started falling ill on 21 April with symptoms of vomiting and diarrhoea following which they were then brought to a hospital in Jaipur.
Over the next week, 11 of the 15 people died. Seven of those who have died were under 15 years of age with the youngest child just eight.
Doctor Ashok Gupta at the JK Lon Hospital was quoted by the channel, “They all had similar complaints diarrhoea, vomiting, and some of them had gone into shock. From a clinical perspective, the children had some kind of infection. They went into septic shock. As children who are physically and mentally challenged, they had a weak immune system.”
Most of the children who have fallen ill suffer from cerebral palsy, said doctors attending to them at the hospital.
The Social Welfare Minister Arun Chaturvedi said, “A three-member inquiry committee has been formed to find out the administrative lapses here. It appears the home doesn’t have a reverse osmosis purification system and people were drinking water from a borewell,” he said.
