Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh): Three Covid patients admitted to the ICU of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences, Gomtinagar, died on Saturday morning due to an alleged shortage of medical oxygen. An investigation has been ordered into the incident.
As the Coronavirus cases have surged, the city hospitals have witnessed an influx of Covid patients which has led to a shortage in emergency and critical care services. In the emergency service department of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences, Gomtinagar, around 54 beds have been allocated for critically ill patients, of which 10 beds are in the ICU. From Friday night as the Emergency and ICU beds were fully occupied, many patients have been placed on oxygen support while lying on stretchers in the holding area.
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At around 6 am, the oxygen in the hospital block ran out which resulted in the death of three Covid patients who were being treated in the ICU department. This resulted in a massive outrage.
The Lohia Hospital Block which has an overall capacity of 350 beds, is currently witnessing a consumption of 150 oxygen cylinders on a daily basis. Earlier, it used to be 40-45 cylinders. As there is no oxygen plant set up in the hospital, oxygen cylinders used to be supplied by Barabanki based Sarang Company. Unfortunately, on Friday, the company declared a production failure due to technical issues and hence could not supply oxygen cylinders which resulted in a crisis.
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Following the outrage, the Lohia Hospital administration made arrangements to bring the oxygen cylinders from the super-speciality block of the institute within 20 minutes.
According to Dr AK Singh, director of the institute, the company's failure to send the consignment of oxygen on time in the morning resulted in the death of three Covid patients admitted to ICU. Now as oxygen has arrived a team of doctors have been alerted and notice has been issued to the Barabanki based company. An investigation is also underway, he said.
