Beer cans found alongside life-saving vaccines inside UP hospital's deep freezer

Lucknow: Deep freezers at hospitals are supposed to be used for storing vaccines and other medicines which require cooling at a certain temperature, but the deep freezer at a hospital in Uttar Pradesh had something else stored in it.

Alongside, life-saving vaccines and medicines, were kept cans of beer in the deep freezer at a community health centre at Dharpa in UP's Bulandshahr town.

The matter came to light, when someone took photographs of the open deep freezer showing beer cans inside it and uploaded them on social media. The photos went viral quickly.

The pictures clearly showed two cans of beer in the deep freezer at the hospital along with vials of injections and other medicines.

Sources said that the health department had recently directed the hospital authorities to ensure that the vaccines and other life saving medicines were kept in the deep freezer.

District health authorities had no answer when queried about the pictures. They only said that they had seen the photographs and were trying to ascertain the facts. ''It is indeed a serious matter if it turns out to be true,'' said an official in Bulandshahr.

The authorities promised probe and stern action against whosoever is found guilty.

According to the sources, an additional chief medical officer has been nominated to probe the matter.

Earlier as well, there have been reports of gross negligence at government hospitals in the state. In some cases ward boys reportedly performed surgeries on the patients.