25 Ganga Ram patients die, low pressure oxygen could be cause

Sources said “low pressure oxygen” could be the likely cause of the deaths in Ganga Ram, one of the city’s biggest and most high-profile hospitals, where healthcare staff was reduced to manually ventilating patients in its ICU and emergency department. The hospital announced the deaths shortly after 8 am.

After the unprecedented crisis of the morning, an oxygen tanker did reach Ganga Ram in central Delhi at 9.20 am but it was enough only for about five hours depending on consumption, an official at Ganga Ram said.Till evening, there was no further replenishment and a hospital spokesperson said they were awaiting supplies.

“It is wrong to say the deaths occurred due to oxygen shortage. We provided oxygen to patients manually when the pressure dipped in the ICU,” SGRH Chairman Dr DS Rana said. Railway Board chairperson Suneet Sharma said the Delhi government had requested that ‘Oxygen Express’ trains be operated to save COVID-19 patients gasping for breath in the city’s hospitals.

Fifteen COVID patients died after a fire broke out at the intensive care unit of a private hospital in Palghar district of Maharashtra on Friday. While 13 were charred to death in the ICU, one patient died while being taken to another hospital and another died during treatment. There were 83 patients in the hospital, 17 of them in the ICU when the fire broke out after a blast in the AC unit, an official said. TV visuals showed the smoke-filled ICU in a disarray after the blaze, with the ceiling falling off in some places, beds and other furniture strewn around and kin of the deceased wailing outside the hospital. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray announced an assistance of Rs five lakh to the families of each deceased. Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each from PMNRF for the next of kin of those who lost their lives and Rs 50,000 to the injured.