The horror of Oxygen shortage came to haunt a private hospital in Amritsar as six patients died allegedly due to a shortage of the life saving oxygen during the time of Covid pandemic, prompting Punjab Government to order a probe into the incident.
The hospital said five of the six patients were infected with Covid-19. Sunil Devgan, the chairman and managing director of Neelkant hospital where the deaths occurred, alleged that despite the district administration being repeatedly asked to extend help, no one turned up to do the needful. He said six patients, including two women, died due to the shortage of oxygen.
Punjab Medical Education Minister OP Soni, however, refuted the charge and claimed that no proper information was given by the hospital about any shortage of oxygen. He claimed a mere simple message was dropped in a WhatsApp group to the administration.
As soon as Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh came to know about the incident, he ordered the Amritsar Deputy Commissioner (DC) to initiate a thorough probe. He also said the hospital prima facie seemed to have flouted orders given to all private hospitals facing oxygen shortage to shift their patients to Government medical colleges.
Devgan claimed that after the death of patients, only five oxygen cylinders were supplied to the hospital. The hospital chairman claimed that three main oxygen suppliers have said that Government hospitals are being prioritised.
“Heavy police force has been deployed outside the oxygen units to prevent oxygen supply to private hospitals,” Devgan alleged.
Of the six patients who died at the hospital on Saturday, two were from Gurdaspur, one from Tarn Taran district and the remaining three were from Amritsar.
The DC has set up a two-member committee, comprising a PCS officer, Dr Rajat Oberoi who is also in-charge of the death analysis committee, and a civil surgeon from Amritsar, to probe the matter, an official spokesperson said. The DC said that oxygen was being supplied to private hospitals without any prejudice and that the government hospital here was also running short of oxygen supply on Friday night. He said private hospitals had been told not to admit patients if they do not have oxygen and they should refer patients to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital in Amritsar.