Admn denies kin claim woman died of O2 shortage at hospital

Strap: Noisy scenes at health facility as relatives of deceased create ruckus

quotes:

Choked to death

“Our patient was undergoing treatment at the hospital for the past 17 days and died painfully of suffocation due to non-availability of oxygen,” deceased’s kin

Medical reasons

“Four deaths reported in Batra hospital Jammu today (Saturday) occurred because of routine medical reasons, not because of shortage of oxygen” J&K admn

Jammu, May 1

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Saturday clarified that no patient had died due to shortage of oxygen supply at Acharya Shri Chander College of Medical Sciences (ASCOM) hospital here as regular replenishment was being undertaken as per requirement raised.

The statement comes after the family members of a Covid-positive woman claimed that she died at the ASCOM hospital, popularly known as Batra hospital, due to non-availability of the life-saving gas.

A statement issued by the administration said 253 oxygen cylinders were supplied to the hospital in the last 24 hours and regular replenishment was being undertaken as per requirement raised.

It said while there is an increasing demand due to a rise in the number of Covid cases, no patient had died due to shortage of oxygen supply.

Earlier, noisy scenes were witnessed at Batra hospital here after relatives of the deceased woman claimed she died because of the non-availability of medical oxygen. However, the hospital management denied the charge and said there was no shortage of oxygen in the hospital.

“Four deaths have taken place today (Saturday) due to various reasons but not because of shortage of oxygen. We have 32 more patients on oxygen support,” hospital Principal Pawan Malhotra said.

He said the hospital has not taken any new patients for the past three days because of the heavy rush and also gave an option to the admitted patients to take voluntary discharge if they desired so.

“The (oxygen) supply is coming regularly and we constantly remain in touch with the government to ensure that there is no shortage of oxygen,” Malhotra said. PTI