5 dead in Hubballi hospital, kin allege O2 shortage

A committee headed by the deputy commissioner will conduct a detailed inquiry. Credit: PTI Photo

Five Covid-19 patients breathed their last in the ICU of the Lifeline Hospital on Gokul Road in Hubballi on Tuesday, even as relatives of the deceased alleged that the deaths occurred due to a shortage of oxygen.

However, district health officer Yashwanth Madinkar, who visited the hospital, said there was no shortage of oxygen at the hospital, which has both oxygen concentrators and jumbo cylinders.

“All five patients had serious health complications and they included aged persons. It can be an incident of ‘cluster death’ as five patients died in a duration of one-and-a-half hours. However, a committee headed by the deputy commissioner will conduct a detailed inquiry to ascertain the exact cause for the deaths,” he added.