Hospital denies lack of oxygen led to 60 child deaths

Sixty children died within days at a hospital in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh last week, prompting claims that the deaths were caused by a lack of oxygen supplies.

The BRD Medical College said 34 of the deaths were of babies in the neonatal intensive care unit, 12 were because of encephalitis, and the rest died of unspecified causes.

Media reported that some of the deaths were the result of an oxygen shortage after a supplier withdrew its services because hospitals had not paid their bills. The hospital’s chief medical superintendent, Dr RS Shukla, denied the claim.

The hospital said there was a “drop in pressure in the supply of liquid oxygen” on Thursday but cylinders were obtained from other suppliers. It did not say whether that had resulted in any deaths.

The breakdown of the death toll provided by the hospital showed a spike on Thursday, with 23 fatalities, including 14 babies at its neonatal unit.

Uttar Pradesh and federal governments are investigating the matter, officials said. Prashant Trivedi, the state’s most senior health official, said that there was a problem with oxygen supplies.

“The situation was managed through oxygen cylinders. The hospital administration has enough supply. So the report about death of children because of oxygen issue is false,” Mr Trivedi said.

Rajiv Rautela, a magistrate, said the hospital owed 6.8 million rupees (Dh390,000) to the company, but it still had enough cylinders.