From Famous Paediatrician to Being Bankrupt: How Crowd Funding is Helping Dr Kafeel Khan Stay Afloat

Lucknow: From a famous paediatrician to being bankrupt and now trying crowd funding to stay afloat, the life of Dr Kafeel Khan has not been less than a nightmare in the last one year.

Dr Kafeel was an accused in the infamous BRD Medical College incident in Gorakhpur in which close to 60 kids, mainly infants, died allegedly due to disruption in oxygen supply over unpaid bills to the supplier.

Speaking exclusively to News18, Dr Khan revealed how he has been running from pillar to post to get himself reinstated in the face of mounting financial difficulties.

Q: It’s almost a year since the BRD incident, how has your life changed?

Dr Kafeel Khan: My life has completely changed in the last one year. I have been in jail for eight months and now I am sitting at home. Today, the authorities are neither revoking the suspension neither they are throwing me out of the job, which means I cannot even start private practice if I want to. I have been attached to DGME office and am required to go and sign the register every day. I made it very clear that I am not a clerk and I am doctor, I belong to hospital.

I have met all the officials and written to almost everyone but nothing was done. There are guidelines from the Supreme Court that a departmental inquiry cannot last more than three months. Even High Court, while granting me bail, said clearly that UP government failed to produce any evidence against me in the court.

Q: We recently came to know about crowd funding efforts for you. Is the situation that bad?

Dr Kafeel Khan: I was in jail for almost nine months. My baby was very young, so even my wife was not working. The business of both of my brothers was destroyed by the local cops because we became untouchables after the BRD incident. People have stopped doing business with my brothers as they think it might upset Yogi ji. We still have properties worth crores but now we do not have buyers as nobody is willing to do business with my family. We have been making rounds of the courts that too without any proper income for last one year.

My brother was attacked and still there has been no arrest even after one and a half month. Then the cops lodged a case against my brother. Today, we stand bankrupt. We had borrowed money from so many people, but there is a limit to borrowing also. I don’t know when I will be reinstated. We have loans to repay too.

Q: Who do you think is responsible for the trauma you have faced and what will be your future course of action?

Dr Kafeel Khan: Government is completely responsible for turning me and my family’s life into a nightmare. It is nothing but government sponsored victimisation. Whatever happened on the night of August 10, 2017, I will always call it a massacre and that was a total fault of all those people who got 14 reminders in six months from Pushpa Sales for the payment. The incident happened primarily because people sitting in Lucknow did not take the matter seriously. They feared that Dr Kafeel will speak the truth and that is why I was sent behind bars. I hope justice will prevail someday and the real culprits will be sent behind bars, our last hope is the Judiciary and we are fighting a legal battle with all that is left with us. I will continue to fight the legal battle and will see that either I am reinstated or I am sacked.