'No COVID-19 death due to lack of oxygen in Gondia hospital': Maharashtra officials deny media report

GONDIA: No COVID-19 death has taken place in Gondia's KTS District General Hospital due to shortage of oxygen and reports about such fatalities in some sections of the local media were false and aimed at maligning the facility, health officials said here on Saturday.

Some local outlets had claimed that 15 patients died on April 15 and 16 in the facility, situated in the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) campus here, due to lack of oxygen.

The rebuttal to such news reports was made by way of an official statement issued on Saturday by GMCH dean Naresh Tirpude and district civic surgeon Amrish Mohaley.

"The reports have been published without verification and probably done with the intention of maligning the image of a government hospital," they said in the release.

In another development, district collector Deepak Kumar Meena issued an order directing people entering Gondia from neighbouring Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to carry coronavirus negative certificates, officials said.