Oxygen shortage kills 24 in Karnataka hospital
Bengaluru, May 3
In yet another hospital tragedy in the country in recent days, 24 patients, 23 of them Covid-infected, died at Karnataka’s Chamarajanagar district hospital due to alleged oxygen shortage.
The government has ordered a probe and warned of stringent action against those found guilty. The incident evoked a sharp response from the Congress, with party leader Rahul Gandhi wondering “how much more suffering before the ‘system’ wakes up”.
Also read:
- Edit: Ending Covid loot
- In the midst of life & death
- Signs of plateau in Punjab; cases rising in Haryana, Himachal, J&K
- Prepare Oxygen buffer stock, govt told
- Covid duty for medical interns: Centre
- Haryana faces Oxygen crunch, rations supply to districts
Pfizer donates drugs worth Rs510 cr
Pfizer said on Monday it was sending Covid drugs worth over Rs510 cr to India as part of Covid treatment protocol, company’s CEO Albert Bourla said.
Alleging oxygen shortage, the family members of the deceased staged a demonstration at the hospital and raised slogans. Chamarajanagar district in-charge Minister S Suresh Kumar, however, maintained all the deaths did not occur due to oxygen shortage. “It’s not appropriate to say all the 24 deaths were due to oxygen shortage. These deaths occurred from Sunday morning to this morning. The oxygen shortage happened in the wee hours of Monday—from 12.30 am to 2.30 am,” he said.
IPL match off as 2 KKR players test positive
As Kolkata Knight Riders’ Varun Chakravarthy (R) and Sandeep Warrier tested positive, the team’s IPL match with Royal Challengers Bangalore, scheduled in Ahmedabad on Monday, had to be postponed.
Kumar said he had ordered a death audit report to find out what these patients were suffering from, whether they had any comorbidities and in which condition they were brought to the hospital.
SII gets Rs1,732 cr from govt for 11 cr doses
The SII on Monday endorsed the government statement that 100 per cent advance of Rs1,732.50 crore has been released to the company on April 28 for 11 crore doses of the Covishield vaccine for May, June and July.
According to him, there was a stock of 6,000 litres of liquid medical oxygen (LMO), but there was a need for oxygen cylinders. “The cylinders were supposed to come from Mysuru, but there was some glitch,” he said.
Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa warned of strict action against those found responsible for the incident and also expressed shock over the deaths.
Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders, including former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, hit out at the ruling BJP over the deaths. “Died or killed? My heartfelt condolences to their families. How much more suffering before the ‘system’ wakes up?” Gandhi tweeted. — PTI