Chennai: Government Hospital in Chengalpattu near Chennai, died late on Tuesday night due to alleged shortage of oxygen supply. The district administration, however, denied any shortage of oxygen, while officials of the Health Department sought to attribute the deaths to “fluctuations in oxygen pressure.”
According to the Health Department only one of the deceased was a COVID-19 patient and the other 10 were admitted with complaints of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI).
This is the second major death of patients in Tamil Nadu during the pandemic. Last month, seven patients died at a Government Hospital in Vellore where again officials denied it had anything to do with non-availability of oxygen supply.
In the latest incident, sources claimed that the toll could be higher as some eyewitnesses had seen two more bodies in the Chengalpattu hospital.
John Louis, Collector of Chengalpattu told journalists that there was a fault in the oxygen supplying machine but it was rectified. He insisted that none of the deaths were due to oxygen shortage.
On the contrary, a doctor at the hospital requesting anonymity claimed that oxygen was in short supply. The hospital had 450 beds with an oxygen facility but the number of patients were more, he claimed.
Director of Medical Education R. Narayana Babu conducted an inquiry into the incident. He was not reachable over the phone for comments.
A Health Department official, however, said as many as 300 COVID-19 patients at the hospital were fine. The hospital, he said had 22 KL oxygen capacity and the tank was refilled with 5 KL on Tuesday. “So, 6 KL of oxygen available and at night we filed 7KL,” he said. The hospital’s current daily oxygen requirement was 4KL.
Deaths in Salem:
In another development, three COVID-19 patients died in ambulances waiting for getting admission at the Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College and Hospital in Salem district in western Tamil Nadu. The deceased included a 30 year old woman.
Relatives of the patients alleged that they were waiting for a long time to get admitted.
However, hospital authorities said that the patients, who were referred from private hospitals, were being treated in the ambulance, while beds were being readied for admissions.
Hospital Dean Dr R Murugesan said that the patients, all of whom had comorbidities, died “without responding to treatment” administered in the ambulances.
