UP govt sacks Dr Kafeel Khan after 4-year battle

Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has finally terminated the services of Dr Kafeel Khan, an accused of the death of several children due to lack of oxygen in Gorakhpur's BRD Medical College in 2017.

The action was taken after the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) approved his dismissal. The order does not give any specific reasons for taking this decision but after UPPSC ordered the Medical Education Department on Wednesday night to issue the order of his dismissal.

Khan was a paediatrician at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College and Hospital in Gorakhpur when 63 children died in 2017 due to lack of oxygen. He was suspended from his post and jailed for nine months after a criminal case of medical negligence, corruption and dereliction of duty was filed against him. But an Uttar Pradesh government inquiry last year cleared him of all charges and instead lauded his actions to save lives during the crisis.

The state government later booked him for making inflammatory speeches during the anti-CAA protests in the state.

Talking to IANS on Thursday, Kafeel Khan said that he was waiting for the formal termination order to be served to him.

"I will continue to fight for justice and will challenge the order in court," he said.