Logistical issues led to drop in O2 levels: Govt in HC

PANAJI: Logistical problems, not shortage, were responsible for drop in oxygen pressure at the Goa Medical College and Hospital for six consecutive nights, the state government told the high court on Friday, admitting that the lack of steady supply led to the deaths of several patients and long-term organ damage to others. The Bombay HC at Goa sharply criticised the administration and said the reasons for the deaths — which stood at 75 on Friday — were unacceptable.

State health secretary Ravi Dhawan told the court that there were two main logistical issues: attaching fresh cylinders to source of piped oxygen at the hospital, and lack of expert drivers who can manoeuvre a tractor trolley that carries the cylinders.

Both these processes could take hours in novice hands and were responsible for the drop in oxygen pressure between 2am and 6am for the past week.

The Goa hospital supplies patients through piped oxygen with an outlet and monitor at each bed. The source of the piped oxygen is a manifold or rack of cylinders set atop a trolley that needs to be changed once the cylinders run out. The old trolley is pulled out using a tractor,which is then detached and a fresh one is attached to it, and driven into place.

Hospital authorities are now connecting patients to loose cylinperson ders to ensure that the pressure does not drop. “Efforts are already being made to engage services of expert drivers to drive and manoeuvre the tractors for transportation of trolleys from the plant at Corlim to the Goa Medical College,” Dhawan said.

The Goa government has also begun the process of installing a 20,000 litre oxygen tank to ensure that the hospital’s oxygen piping system will no longer rely on cylinder racks. “This tank would be made operational on a war footing,” CM Pramod Sawant said.

The high court found the reasons given unacceptable. “Along with power comes responsibility. People cannot die for reasons that we don’t have a driver, technician, we did not get spanner etc,” the court said.

“We feel that such logistical problems must be got over at the earliest so that this tragedy of victims gasping for breath in the presence of their near and dear ones and in several cases even dying for want of necessary oxygen supply is arrested at the earliest,” the judges said.

Workers at the hospital said conditions had not improved.

“For several nights the oxygen levels have been dropping in the GMC. It is those patients who are relying on cylinders who suffer first as there is no one to swap the empty cylinders with full ones. The nurses and doctors are way too burdened to be able to do this,” said Ashley Delaney, a volunteer with the Red Cross and currently assisting at the hospital.