Five Covid-19 patients on oxygen support died in the ICU of a private hospital at Jabalpur late Thursday night and the kin of the deceased alleged that the deaths occurred because the hospital’s oxygen supply ended abruptly.
According to health authorities, the incident occurred at the Galaxy Hospital in Jabalpur. Some patients in the ICU were on oxygen support, out of whom five died allegedly when the oxygen supply ran dry and there was no provision of additional oxygen.
Jabalpur Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) Dr Ratnesh Kuraria said the authorities had already directed all private hospitals to ensure adequate additional oxygen supply.
Police said the incident was reported in the intervening night of Thursday and Friday and soon after getting the news, a police team was rushed to the hospital. Some relatives of the deceased were highly enraged and trying to vent their ire on the hospital’s doctors and staff but the police personnel pacified them.
Hospital authorities told police that they were expecting 10 cylinders of oxygen but the vehicle carrying the cylinders broke down on the way and so the additional oxygen could not reach the hospital in time.
Police then arranged for another vehicle and got the required oxygen cylinders delivered to the hospital, which enabled the doctors to save the lives of other critically ill patients.