8 Covid patients dead at Andhra govt hospital, kin allege oxygen shortage

A hospital official said the condition of the patients was already bad with their SpO2 levels at 50-60%

Eight Covid-19 patients died at the Hindupur government hospital on Monday allegedly due to the interruption in their oxygen supply.

Relatives of the deceased have blamed the staff, citing negligence in ensuring quick restoration of the O2 supply with the cylinders stored at the district hospital for such contingencies.

According to Jagannath Singh, Anantapuram District Forest Officer delegated as the oxygen monitoring officer, a 6-KL capacity liquid oxygen tank at the hospital was found to be left with only about 2 KL on Sunday.

“We have kept about 140 oxygen cylinders on standby there. When the tank got exhausted at about 6 am today, the cylinders were brought in and adjusted to the patients' bed oxygen supply. All this was done within five minutes. The allegations of oxygen shortage are not true,” Singh told DH.

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The eight deaths occurred in the early hours of Monday.

Maintaining that the deaths are not connected to O2 supply, the official said that the condition of the patients was already bad with their SpO2 levels at 50-60 per cent.

The district administration has also refuted the charges of staff negligence and stated that “the doctors and other medical staff at the Hindupur hospital are operating properly”.

Opposition TDP's general secretary Nara Lokesh has equated the eight deaths as “government murders” and held CM Jaganmohan Reddy responsible.

“Jagan is playing with people's lives. A probe should be ordered on the Hindupur hospital incident and action should be taken on those responsible. Government should aid the families of the deceased,” Lokesh said in a series of tweets.