3 patients die at Jalandhar civil hospital as oxygen supply is cut following fault in plant

Three patients died at the Civil Hospital here on Sunday as the oxygen supply was snapped after the plant installed on the premises developed a technical fault.

Admitted to the trauma unit, the three were a snake bite patient, a drug overdose patient and a Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease patient. The three serious patients were on ventilator.

The incident happened around 7.30 pm.

The doctor on duty said the fault was immediately rectified and the oxygen supply restored but the patients died later as they were in a serious condition.

SMO Dr Vinay Anand said, “The pressure of oxygen being supplied to the patients was greatly reduced. The fault was detected immediately and fixed. The supply was immediately restored. However, the patients died later while still under treatment as they were serious."

Confirming the deaths, Medical Superintendent Dr Raj Kumar Baddhan said, "The technical fault in the oxygen plant caused the supply of oxygen to be snapped. An oil leak caused the fault which was fixed but the patients died.”

Sources said the snapping of oxygen supply causes an alarm to go off, which can't be missed by doctors on duty. Sources said unless the response is inordinately delayed, a small fault can't lead to deaths.