New Delhi: Twenty-one critically ill patients died overnight at Jaipur Golden Hospital in Delhi amid a serious oxygen crisis, officials said on Saturday.
The state government informed the High Court that 21 patients died due to oxygen shortage overnight.
21 patients die in Delhi's Jaipur Golden Hospital amid oxygen scarcity "The oxygen pressure has dipped as we are running out of stock," Dr D K Baluja, the medical director of Jaipur Golden Hospital, told the media.
He said the hospital has over 200 patients and they had only half an hour of oxygen left at 10:45 am.
It received the last refill of oxygen around midnight, after hours of delay.
"Nobody has promised anything. Everybody is saying we will do our best," the medical director said when asked if the hospital received any help from the government.
Dr Baluja said the hospital has over 200 patients and 80 per cent of them are on oxygen support. Around 35 patients are in the ICU, he said.
The hospital authorities have appealed to the Kejriwal government for help and have raised an alarm about the oxygen crisis.
A family member of one of the deceased said, "The hospital informed the family members one by one to avoid ruckus but everyone gathered at the same time. Yesterday at 11 pm, the hospital started informing the kin of the deceased. Nobody is helping."
Another kin of the deceased alleged medical negligence and sought a CBI probe into the matter and said that those found guilty should be punished.
Rajesh Kataria, whose 38-year-old younger brother passed away, said, "The hospital should look that there are adequate arrangements for the patients. I got the information yesterday around midnight about my brother's demise. About family members of 40 patients are waiting outside."
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Moolchand Hospital, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH), Batra Hospital and Jaipur Golden hospital reported a shortage of oxygen and appealed to the authority to arrange it at the earliest.
Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court said that if any official at the central, state or local administration was obstructing in the picking up or supply of oxygen, then it would "hang" that person.
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The observation by a bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli came during the hearing of a plea by Maharaja Agrasen Hospital over shortage of oxygen for seriously ill COVID patients.
The court told the Delhi government to give it one instance of who was obstructing the oxygen supply and said "we will hang that man".
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With agency inputs
