MHA asks States to ensure no more fire in health facilities
Oxygen shortage and fire in hospital have killed hundreds of hapless Covid-19 patients, who may have survived otherwise. Over five dozen people died in fire incidents in several parts of the country, while the number of those who perished due to shortage of oxygen would be many times more.
In some cases, when the hospital ran out of oxygen, the doctors fled to safety, leaving the patients to die a slow and painful death.
On Wednesday, seven people reportedly died in Kalaburagi and Belagavi in Karnataka and five in Roorkee in Uttarakhand due to shortage of oxygen.
Similarly, three died in an explosion at an oxygen plant in Chinhat on the outskirts of Lucknow. Among the dead, two were employees and one was a customer who had come to get the refill. In another case in Delhi, 26 Covid patients were rescued after a fire broke out in the nursing home.
Alarmed over the increasing cases of fire incidents claiming several lives in the past two- three months, the Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday issued directions to the State Government to put in place a plan of action, to ensure that no fire incident occurs in any of the health facilities (particularly Covid-19 dedicated facilities) both in the Government and private sector.
In Uttarakhand’s Roorkee district, five Covid-19 patients, including a woman, died at a private hospital allegedly due to disruption in oxygen supply to the facility for around 30 minutes.
The incident occurred in the early hours of Wednesday when oxygen supply to the hospital remained disrupted between 1.30 and 2 am.
One of the deceased was on ventilator support while four others were on oxygen beds.
A magisterial probe has been ordered into the incident, Haridwar District Magistrate C Ravishankar said on Wednesday.
The Karnataka Government has appointed retired High Court judge Justice BA Patil as the one-man commission to inquire into the death of 24 Covid patients in Chamarajanagar district on May 3 allegedly owing to oxygen shortage. A notification regarding the appointment of Justice Patil was issued by the Additional Chief Secretary in the Home Department, Rajneesh Goel on Wednesday. The office of the commission has to submit its report in one month.
At least 12 patients, including the HOD of the gastroenterology department, of Batra hospital died when a prominent hospital ran out of oxygen on May 1. Outside hospitals, families of patients who can’t find a bed are struggling to get hold of portable cylinders - sometimes standing in queues for up to 12 hours.
Similarly, 21 died allegedly owing to oxygen shortage at Jaipur Golden hospital last week. But the Delhi government in the High Court said they succumbed to comorbidities, not oxygen shortage. The Delhi Government has received 48 SOS calls from hospitals to provide oxygen in the last 24 hours. Several big hospitals in Delhi are relying on daily oxygen supplies but they are not getting enough to keep some as backup in case of emergency.
In stern remarks, the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday observed that the death of Covid-19 patients just for non-supply of oxygen to hospitals is a criminal act, “not less than a genocide” by authorities entrusted the task to ensure the oxygen supply chain is maintained.
The remarks were made on some news items doing the rounds on social media regarding the death of Covid-19 patients due to lack of oxygen in Lucknow and Meerut districts. The court also ordered a probe into the incidents.
Earlier, 18 people, including two healthcare workers were killed in a fire at a Covid-19 hospital in Bharuch in Gujarat and 15 patients have died after a fire broke out in the intensive care unit at Vijay Vallabh hospital in the Virar in north Mumbai last month.
A fire mishap in March was due to an overheated ventilator machine in Safdarjung hospital on March 30. No casualties were reported. There was fire at Rajdhani Super Specialty Hospital, Raipur, on April 18 but no casualties reported in the incident.
