IT Correspondent
Mumbai, May 03:
Nearly 24 patients, including some COVID-19 positive, died at district hospital in Chamarajanagar, the southernmost in Karnataka, allegedly due to the shortage of oxygen on Monday.
The incident took place at a district hospital in Chamarajanagar where at least 144 patients are being treated. A pall of gloom descended on the Chamarajanagar district hospital as the grieving kin of the deceased gathered after hearing the news. Family members of the dead also staged a demonstration at the hospital and alleged there was a shortage of oxygen and raised slogans. The district officials have, however, denied the allegations that all the patients died due to oxygen shortage at the hospital.
A total of 250 oxygen cylinders were sent to the hospital from Mysore in the middle of the night as an emergency stock as the oxygen cylinders that were supposed to come from Ballari (Bellary)(north-eastern part of Karnataka) did not reach the hospital due to a delay in supply.
Chamarajanagar district in-charge Minister S Suresh Kumar, who is also the Primary and Secondary Education Minister, said he has ordered a death audit report from the district administration into the incident. “We are waiting for the death audit report,” Suresh Kumar said. However all the deaths did not occur due to oxygen shortage. “It’s not appropriate to say that all the 24 deaths happened due to oxygen shortage. These deaths happened from Sunday morning to this morning. The oxygen shortage happened in the wee hours of Monday — from 12.30 am to 2.30 am,” Suresh Kumar said. Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa called the officials to inquire into the incident in Chamarajanagar.
In the meanwhile Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacked the central government over the Chamarajanagar incident and the deaths that have been reported across the country due to the oxygen shortage. “Died or Killed? My heartfelt condolences to their families. How much more suffering before the ‘system’ wakes up?” Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet.
Hospitals across the country, especially the states that have been witnessing an upsurge in the COVID-19 cases, have been sending out desperate messages of help on social media and other platforms, flagging their dwindling stocks of oxygen.
