6 Covid patients die due to low-pressure oxygen in MP hospital

Shahdol (MP): At least six COVID-19 patients died in the ICU of a government hospital in Madhya Pradesh's Shahdol allegedly due to low pressure in the medical oxygen supply.

The incident occurred at the Government Medical College Hospital (GMCH) here on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.

However, the district administration denied that these deaths were caused due to the "shortage of oxygen".

"Out of 62 patients admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) ward of the medical colleges COVID-19 centre, six patients died following the low pressure of liquid oxygen late last night," the facilitys dean, Dr Milind Shiralkar, said, adding that the other critical patients are safe.

The hospital has 62 ICU beds where critical COVID-19 patients are admitted.

However, Shiralkar later said had low oxygen pressure been the cause, other patients would also have been impacted.

"But the low pressure of oxygen didn't affect the other patients," he said.

Shiralkar said experts have been called in to find out the exact cause behind the death of the six patients.

Shahdol district collector Dr Satyendra Singh told reporters that all the six patients who died at the GMCH were in critical condition.

"The hospital dean had told me that six patients had died till 8 am but the cause of their death was not the shortage of oxygen. They were critical patients and none of them died due to the shortage of oxygen," he said.

After the dean informed the administration about the "shortage of oxygen" at the hospital, backup cylinders were sent to the GMCH from the district hospital, he added.

Singh further said the district administration is regularly monitoring the oxygen supply.

"There is no shortage of medical oxygen in the district. We have more than 600 oxygen cylinders in the district besides 35 oxygen concentrators in the GMCH," the collector said, adding an oxygen tanker is on its way to Shahdol.