6 patients die at Amritsar hospital allegedly due to oxygen shortage

Amritsar: Six patients died at a private hospital here on Saturday allegedly due to a shortage of oxygen, prompting Punjab authorities to order a probe into the incident.

Five of the six patients were infected with COVID-19, the hospital said.

"Despite the district administration being repeatedly asked to extend help, no one turned up to do the needful," Sunil Devgan, the chairman and managing director of Neelkant hospital where the deaths occurred, alleged.

"Six patients, including two women, died due to shortage of oxygen," he claimed.

However, Medical Education Minister O P Soni refuted the charge and claimed that no proper information was given by the hospital about any shortage of oxygen.

"A mere simple message was dropped in a WhatsApp group to the administration," he said.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh ordered the Amritsar Deputy Commissioner (DC) to initiate a thorough probe into the incident.

Singh 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.

The incident comes amid a deepening crisis over the scarcity of oxygen vital to save critically ill COVID patients, with similar tragedies unfolding in hospitals in other parts of the country over the last few days.

Devgan claimed that after the death of patients, only five oxygen cylinders were supplied to the hospital.