Odisha fire tragedy: Blaze leaves state minister singed

The fire tragedy on Monday evening at Sum Hospital has added to the litany woes for Orissa health minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak. Eyebrows are being raised on his capabilities following a series of failures in healthcare services in state, ranging from infant deaths in Cuttack Sishu Bhavan, Japanese Encephalitis deaths in Malkangiri, Nagada malnutrition deaths to the Dana Majhi episode in Kalahandi.

Also, doubts are being raised on the fairness of the probe into the Sum Hospital fire mishap which has left 21 persons dead and several injured.

Mr Nayak’s close relationship with Manoj Na-yak, owner of Sum Hos-pital, has given a handle to the Opposition to target him. In fact, his wife, Bandana Khuntia, is a lecturer in an institute which belongs to the same group of institutions as the Sum Hos-pital.

Notably, the health minister found himself in trouble last year following deaths of 60 infants at Cuttack Sishu Bhavan.

In 2016, death of 19 children of Nagada village in Jajpur district due to malnourishment expo-sed the state of healthcare in Orissa.