Violence after 11 patients die at Maha hospital; kin cite oxygen shortage

MUMBAI: Angry relatives stormed two hospitals at Nalla Sopara in Maharashtra’s Palgarh district on Monday night after at least 11 patients died there allegedly due to oxygen shortage. The authorities insisted there was no shortage even as the deaths were reported hours after an audio message of Rajiv Patil, the mayor of Palgarh’s Vasai, purportedly highlighting a severe shortage of oxygen needed for patients went viral.

“We thought my father would recover but he died because of a lack of oxygen supply... the hospital gave us false assurances,” said Rahul Verma, whose father, Ram Babu, 52, was among the 11. He added his father had a heart disease and was admitted to the Vinayak Hospital for seven days for Covid treatment.

Rajendra Kamble, a local police officer, said there were deaths at the two hospitals but insisted they were not due to the shortage. He added the 11 patients were in critical condition. “...the hospitals had three oxygen cylinders functional, and we are investigating the matter,” said Kamble.

Patil, who later spoke to HT, confirmed the authenticity of the message, and appealed to the state government to solve the matter. He earlier said the VasaiVirar Municipal Corporation (VVMC) had oxygen stock that will last for three hours. Patil warned if oxygen is unavailable, Covid patients may suffer and even die.

Maharashtra, which recorded 51,751 Covid-19 cases and 258 deaths on Monday, is the worsthit state by the pandemic. The fresh cases took the state’s overall tally of cases to 3,458,996.

VVMC’s health department, too, maintained the deaths had nothing to do with the oxygen shortage. Ganesh Patil,VVMC’s public relations officer, said the Vinayaka Hospital received 139 jumbo oxygen cylinders and one dura cylinder on Sunday. Thus, a total of 166 cylinders were in use, he added.

Ganesh Patil said one jumbo cylinder has a 7,000-litre capacity and thus there was sufficient oxygen supply. Riddhi Vinayak Hospital also Sunday received around 50 jumbo cylinders and 60 on Monday, according to Ganesh Patil.