Oxygen supply disrupted in Ranchi hosp, 5 Covid patients dead
At least five critically ill Covid-19 patients admitted to Ranchi’s Sadar Hospital allegedly died after a snag developed in manifold room, leading to disruption in oxygen supply in the wee hours of Thursday
At least five critically ill Covid-19 patients admitted to Ranchi’s Sadar Hospital allegedly died after a snag developed in manifold room, leading to disruption in oxygen supply in the wee hours of Thursday. However, hospital authorities on Friday said the deaths occurred due to critical illness.
Following the incident, health minister Banna Gupta on Friday set up a probe into the matter. “This is a grave issue. I discussed it with chief minister Hemant Soren. The health department’s principal secretary has been asked to conduct a detailed probe into the matter. Some technical snag could have developed in the system but it is important to find out if it was due to deliberate lapses on the part of staff on duty or someone else,” Gupta said.
According to available information, the technical snag occurred around 4.45 am due to leakage in MOX regulator in the manifold room. This led to a sudden disruption in the smooth supply of oxygen, as its flow dropped to 12 from 50 level.
It was alleged that soon after this, two critically ill patients, who were on ventilator support and high flow nasal cannula (HFNC), died. Three other patients also died in quick intervals even after the oxygen supply was restored within an hour through different manifold system.
The sudden disruption led to chaos in the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU), where around 50 patients were surviving either on ventilators or HFNCs. “The unit, however, had a jumbo oxygen cylinder but that could not be made functional. The oxygen flow level dipped to 12 from 50, causing much unease to patients. Attendants of many patients used small size cylinders attached with the beds for the time being but some patients didn’t have this facility too. Soon after, two-three patients died,” claimed a patient’s attendant.
Speaking to media persons on Friday, Ranchi’s in-charge civil surgeon Dr Vinod said, “Not a single death occurred due to disruption in oxygen supply. Those who died were critically ill. These deaths occurred at different points of time. The snag that developed in the manifold system was rectified and oxygen supply was restored within half an hour.”
Earlier on Tuesday, as many as 17 Covid-19 patients also died at Ranchi’s Sadar Hospital at different points of time.
