Lack of oxygen: Four more die in Kalaburagi

KALABURAGI: Four more patients succumbed at a taluk hospital in Kalaburagi in the wee hours of Tuesday due to a shortage of oxygen. Nine had died on Monday and of the four who died on Tuesday, two were male. All four were on oxygen support.
Prashant Patil, an advocate from Afzalpur, whose client’s brother was among the dead, scoffed at the district administration’s claims that the patients died of comorbidities and that there was no shortage of oxygen at the hospital.
“Yes, there was oxygen early in the evening, but stock was exhausted by the night,” Prashanth said. “The hospital expected refill cylinders to arrive late in the night, but that didn’t come. All four patients desperately needed oxygen support. They died before fresh stock arrived.” Patil said eight other patients were provided oxygen from the fresh stock in the morning.
Later in the day, Ratnakar Toran, Afzalpur taluk health officer claimed he had “mistakenly informed reporters” who had called him up that the deaths were due to a shortage of oxygen. “I was handling another crisis when I spoke to reporters. There was no shortage of oxygen,” he said.
The district administration insisted on Tuesday that the patients died because they failed to respond to treatment. VV Jyothsna, deputy commissioner (DC), said only two patients were confirmed Covid-positive. “If there was a shortage of oxygen, hospital staff would have called us, and we would have arranged supply. But there was no shortage,” she said.