63 Covid patients die for want of oxygen or charred to death

Wednesday 28th April 2021 06:52 EDT
 

A total of at least 63 Covid-19 patients died for want of oxygen or charred to death in Maharashtra and Delhi hospitals. Twenty-two patients died in Maharashtra's Nashik after an oxygen tanker leaked outside a hospital, disrupting supply to patients for around 30 minutes. Another 11 died in a Beed hospital. At least 25 patients died in Delhi's Ganga Ram Hospital because of short supply of oxygen. As per information, 22 people have died in Nashik due to the interrupted supply of oxygen at the Zakir Hussain municipal hospital," district collector Suraj Mandhare said.

All the victims were on ventilators and in need of constant oxygen supply. Zakir Hussain Hospital is a Covid-dedicated facility. Around 150 patients were either oxygen-dependent or on ventilators. Panic struck patients and their family members as the oxygen supply was stopped. Heart wrenching visuals showed families trying to help the patients as they gasped for breath. Fire trucks were rushed to the spot to stop the leak. Videos showed water sprayed to control the leak; the firefighting team also wore protective gear.

11 patients die in Beed hospital

As many as 11 Covid patients died, allegedly due to oxygen shortage, at the Swami Ramanand Teerth Rural Medical College at Ambajogai in Beed district.

15 Covid patients charred to death

Fifteen Covid-19 patients, including six women, were charred to death after a fire broke out in a packed ICU of the 90-bed Vijay Vallabh hospital in Virar near Mumbai. Two other ICU patients who were rescued are serious, doctors said. The tragedy came just two days after 22 Covid patients died gasping for breath in a Nashik hospital following an oxygen tank leak.

Seventy other Covid patients on the hospital’s first, third and fourth floors rushed out of the Virar building, some helped along by the hospital staff. The patients alleged there were only two nurses, two ward boys and one doctor on the night shift. None of the health staff sustained any injuries. The ICU was charred beyond recognition.

A blast in the air-conditioner unit of the ICU of the four-storey hospital in Bolinj, Virar (West) is believed to have caused the fire. Sparks fell on the patients’ beds and set these on blaze, fire officials said. The ICU did not have the mandatory sprinkler systems, fire officials said. The hospital, that came up around six years ago, had renewed its fire licence last month.

25 patients died in Delhi's Ganga Ram Hospital

Twenty-five "sickest patients" have died at Sir Ganga Ram hospital in Delhi, a statement from the hospital said, revealing a worsening Covid crisis in the capital's hospitals. In an SOS at around 8 am, the hospital also said it had oxygen for only two more hours and that 60 more patients were at risk. Around two hours later, oxygen tankers arrived at the hospital. The hospital also said it needed oxygen to be airlifted urgently, but its top officers contradicted each other on whether the deaths, all of critical Covid patients, were because of oxygen shortage.

Ganga Ram, one of Delhi's top private hospitals, is treating more than 500 Covid patients, according to reports. Of them, 142 are on high-flow oxygen support, the hospital says.


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