Oxygen 'supply cut', 3 patients die at Jalandhar hospital

Among the deceased were a snakebite victim, a youth who had taken a drug overdose, and a TB patient.

Confirming the three deaths, Medical Superintendent Dr Raj Kumar Baddhan said, "Due to a technical fault in the oxygen plant in the evening, the supply was snapped. An oil leak that caused the fault was fixed but the patients succumbed."

He said a nine-member committee had been formed to probe the deaths.

He said, "There were five patients on ventilator support and three died. A nine-member committee has been formed to conduct a probe into the incident... The accountability will be fixed after the probe report is submitted. I have sought the report by Tuesday."

Sources in the hospital said the snapping of the supply triggers an alarm, "which can't be missed by doctors on duty".

The sources said, "Unless the response is inordinately delayed, a small fault can't cause deaths of patients."

Shivam, the brother of snakebite patient Archana, said his sister had been admitted to Civil Hospital for the past 10 days and was recovering. "This evening, the doctors said there was a technical fault... then they said she was serious. Soon after, she was declared dead."

Khushboo, the wife of the 35-year-old TB patient, said her husband was admitted to the hospital after a serious problem in his lungs. "At 7 pm, there was some technical issue in the hospital, after which he died," she said.