Oxygen tank leaks at Nashik's Zakir Hussain Hospital; 24 patients die

Twenty-four Covid-19 patients died at the Zakir Hussain Hospital run by the Nashik Municipal Corporation on Wednesday morning after the main liquid oxygen storage tank malfunctioned and leaked oxygen. The leak led to a drop in oxygen pressure for patients on high flow ventilators.

Among over 160 patients, 24 were on ventilators when the tragedy happened. Before the toll went up to 24, health minister Rajesh Tope said 11 of the dead were men and 11 women. The incident happened when oxygen tankers were about to refill the storage tank.

District collector Suraj Mandhare told journalists that an outlet of the storage tank malfunctioned and began leaking. Though the hospital officials called the fire brigade and technicians, it took almost an hour to restore the supply, by which time 22 patients died. Two died later in the day.

The Maharashtra government has ordered a high-level inquiry and said that the guilty would not be spared. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray described the incident as ‘shocking and painful’ and announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of the deceased. The CM said there should not be any politics over the incident. The Nashik Municipal Corporation is administered by the BJP.

Tope who visited the hospital late in the evening said that the state will prepare a SOP for management of oxygen cylinders and tankers so that such accidents do not occur. Maharashtra has had several incidents of hospitals turning into mortuaries. In January, 10 newborns died in the ICU after a fire broke out in a hospital in Bhandara. Last month, 10 Covid-19 patients died after a fire broke out in a hospital inside a mall in Bhandup.

Relative said that some patients were recovering fast with eh aid of oxygen, adds PTI. There were heart-wrenching scenes as patients' condition became critical and doctors and nurses could not help in the absence of oxygen supply, one witness said. The brother of 42-year-old Pramod Walukar could not stop crying: “My brother was about to be discharged in the next two days as his condition was improving. Today when I brought him tiffin, he said he would eat later. Immediately after our conversation the hospital ran out of oxygen and within two hours my brother was dead,” he said. The relative of another victim said the hospital management was callous and must be held responsible.

A woman said her mother managed a bed after two days and after it became available, she lost her life in the accident. After angry and weeping relatives demanded answers, hospital authorities had to ask the police to restrict entry into the ward. One relative claimed that there was no oxygen supply for almost two hours and if the hospital stocked oxygen cylinders, lives could have been saved.