IT Correspondent
Nashik, April 21:
At least 22 COVID-19 patients died due to asphyxiation, following the interrupted supply of oxygen at the Nashik Municipal Corporation’s Dr. Zakir Hussain hospital located at Kathada, in Nashik in North Maharashtra, due to the massive leakage in an oxygen tanker on Wednesday afternoon.
The mishap took place at about 12.30 pm when the oxygen leaked out of the storage tank apparently due to the malfunctioning of the nozzle attached to the tank. Resultantly the supply to the patients on ventilators as well as those on oxygen beds got interrupted, District Collector Suraj Mandhare said.
The leakage caused the oxygen supply to be halted for nearly 30 minutes. Although the leakage was fixed with the help of the fire department, the condition of patients on oxygen support deteriorated and they lost the battle against the virus. The 22 patients who were on ventilators died. According to preliminary information, around 150 patients were either oxygen-dependent or on ventilators.
Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said that leakage must have affected the supply of oxygen inside the hospital, adding that accountability will be fixed. “Due to the valves leakage of the tanker in Nashik, there was massive Oxygen leakage. Definitely, this would have affected the supply inside the hospital. I am yet to gather more information. We will issue a press note after gathering more information,” he said.
Nashik Municipal Commissioner Kailash Shinde said that the supply from the plant was halted after the leakage, adding that several patients are in critical condition and all possible steps are being taken by the doctors to save lives. Shinde said that there are 700 patients admitted to the hospital. The oxygen supply has been restored, he said.
