6 die due to low-pressure oxygen in MP hospital

Shahdol, April 18

At least six COVID-19 patients died in the ICU of a government hospital in Madhya Pradesh's Shahdol due to low pressure in medical oxygen supply, an official said on Sunday.

The incident took place at the Government Medical College Hospital here on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.

"Out of 62 patients admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) ward of the medical college's COVID-19 centre, six patients died due to low pressure of liquid oxygen late last night," the facility's dean, Dr Milind Shiralkar, said.

The other critical patients are safe, he said.

"Experts have been called and the causes are being ascertained," he said.

Shiralkar said the liquid oxygen supply at the hospital was running out by late Saturday evening.

Suppliers were being contacted constantly, but the vehicle did not reach till late night, due to which the pressure of oxygen supplied to the patients was reduced, he said.

The official said there was a shortage of oxygen supply since the last few days.

The oxygen plant on the campus has a storage capacity of 10-kilo litres per day, the official said, adding that liquid oxygen is brought from other states.

The hospital has 62 ICU beds where critical COVID-19 patients are admitted, he added.

Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath asked the government how long the deaths due to lack of oxygen will continue in the state.

In a tweet, Nath said, Now very sad news of deaths due to lack of oxygen is coming from Shahdol? Why didn't the government wake up even after deaths in Bhopal, Indore, Ujjain, Sagar, Jabalpur, Khandwa, Khargone due to shortage of oxygen? After all, how long will deaths continue due to lack of oxygen in the state?

Terming the situation as scary, Nath also said there was a shortage of Remdesivir injections used in the treatment of coronavirus, and alleged that the key anti-viral drug and oxygen were available only on paper and not in reality.

The state government has not yet reacted to the Shahdol incident.

According to the state's health bulletin, 142 fresh cases of the viral infection were detected in Shahdol on Saturday, taking the caseload in the district to 4,528.

Till Saturday, the district reported 38 fatalities due to the infection since the pandemic began. PTI 

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