Batra hosp runs out of oxygen, 12 dead, including doc; grief & chaos outside
New Delhi: Twelve patients, including a 62-year-old doctor, admitted to the Batra Hospital here died on Saturday after the hospital ran out of medical oxygen for several hours before supplies were restored as the Capital rolled into its 11th day of acute medical oxygen shortage.
The hospital had been sending SOS messages for replenishing oxygen supplies since 6 am on Saturday and kept pleading in the Delhi High Court for immediate intervention throughout the day before running out at 11:45 am.
At least six of the patients were admitted to the ICU. The doctor, Dr R K Himthani, was the Head of the Gastroenterology Department at the hospital and was being treated there. Top administrators of the hospital, including the medical director Dr SCL Gupta and executive director Dr Sudhanshu Bankata, saying that the next 24-48 hours would be crucial and more deaths due to oxygen shortage cannot be ruled out, even though temporary supplies had reached the facility by 1:30 pm.
This is because patients who had slipped into a critical state after decreased oxygen pressure could be very hard to revive.
Dr Bankata said: "These are patients whose oxygen levels sank when supply was low and it is hard to revive such patients. The next 24-48 are hours critical and the death toll could be higher."
The hospital has 327 patients, of which 48 are in the critical care unit. It has over 200 patients on oxygen support.
Meanwhile, outside the emergency ward of the hospital on Saturday, family members of those who succumbed mourned, some visibly angry.
Harbhajan Singh was waiting for his wife's body to be released. Kawaljeet Kaur (64), Harbhajan's wife was one of the 12 who died on Saturday.
Surrounded by family members, he said Kawaljeet was fine till Saturday morning. "She ate food and she was fine, then around 12.30 pm, we were told that she died. I lost my wife today," Singh said, trying to hold back tears.
He blamed the lack of resources for his wife's death.
"I had told my children that do not get her admitted to a hospital, because if she goes there, there is no guarantee of her return and that has come true now," he said as their daughter broke down beside him.
And amid the grief of family members outside the hospital was the chaos of other family members scrambling to arrange for oxygen cylinders for their loved ones admitted to the facility.
Harbhajan had been waiting for his wife's body since 12.30 pm and stared at a longer wait to cremate her. "We have been asking them why they are delaying giving us my wife's remains. It has been close to four hours and we are still waiting here. My wife is gone," he said.
Soon after the tragedy, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter and said these deaths could have been prevented. He said: "This news is very painful. Their lives could have been saved by giving oxygen on time. Delhi should be given its share of oxygen. Such deaths of our people are becoming unbearable by the day. Delhi requires 976 MT oxygen daily and yesterday only 312 MT came. How will Delhi breathe like this?"
His deputy Manish Sisodia also condoled the deaths, taking it out on the Centre. He said, in a tweet: "The central government yesterday told the Supreme Court that 10,000 MT oxygen is produced daily in the country, which is quite surplus to the daily requirement of 7,500MT. Delhi needs 976MT, yet Delhi's quota is 490MT and supply only 312MT. Why? Why are games being played with the lives of Delhi's people?"
In the last 10 days, this is the second official incident of a hospital running out of medical oxygen and losing patients because of it. Days ago, the Jaipur Golden Hospital said that 20 patients in its hospital had died in quick succession after it had reduced oxygen pressure due to low supplies.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is yet to publicly acknowledge the deaths due to oxygen shortage at Jaipur Golden Hospital. At the time of writing, neither had he made a public statement about the 12 who died at Batra on Saturday.
