Three recovered Covid patients succumb, families accuse Ghaziabad hospital of negligence

Ghaziabad: Chaotic scenes were witnessed Monday morning at the Sarvodaya Super Speciality and Heart Hospital in Ghaziabad where the families of three post-Covid patients, who died within a short span of each other, allegedly engaged in a spat with the hospital authorities, accusing them of medical negligence

Ghaziabad: Chaotic scenes were witnessed Monday morning at the Sarvodaya Super Speciality and Heart Hospital in Ghaziabad where the families of three post-Covid patients, who died within a short span of each other, allegedly engaged in a spat with the hospital authorities, accusing them of medical negligence. Finally, the police reached the hospital and pacified the families of the victims.

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The hospital authorities identified the three victims 54-year-old Mona Gambhir and two patients aged 62 years and 52 years. According to the families, the oxygen supply allegedly got disrupted and the hospital authorities were allegedly lax on their part, which they said claimed the lives of the patients.

“It is a case of negligence. My nephew was present at the hospital where my sister was under treatment; her oxygen level was 91. On Monday when my nephew went to see her at 8am, she was lying with her mouth open on the bed. She was on a Cpap system with oxygen. The police also arrived,” alleged Tarun Bajaj, Mona’s brother.

The Cpap (Continuous positive airway pressure) is used to help patients who have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) breathe with ease during sleep. The machine raises air pressure in the throat so that the airway does not collapse while breathing.

“She had been cured of Covid and thereafter, was admitted at the hospital for the past eight-10 days. They first put her on normal oxygen and later on the Cpap system. It is due to negligence of the hospital that patients suffered such a condition,” he alleged further.

The families of the other two victims could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Chief medical officer Dr NK Gupta said that he got in touch with the hospital after the incident.

“I spoke to the hospital authorities and have asked for a detailed report. We will get the incident inquired,” he added.

According to the medical superintendent of the hospital, following the commotion, the staff at the hospital declined to continue working and had to be put at ease.

“The families raised different allegations and all three were post-Covid patients. There was lung involvement and all three patients had developed severe infection. We put them on a ventilator. Both women patients were taken from the Cpap system to a ventilator on Monday and they could not survive. Another male patient was already on a ventilator. Their attendants were also told to shift them to higher centres if they wish,” Dr Manoj Jain, the superintendent of the hospital, said, adding that the three deaths took place within the span of an hour.

“They also raised allegations that the oxygen system was not functioning. We have a centralised oxygen supply system and if it developed any fault, other patients, too, would have also suffered complications. However, other patients were not affected. Our staff also got panicked due to the commotion,” he added.

The police, meanwhile, said they have not received any complaint so far from the families.

“Our team reached the hospital to maintain law and order. We have not received any complaint about the incident so far. In case we get a complaint, we will forward it first to the health department for an inquiry, as per procedure, under sections of medical negligence (if any),” said Nipun Agarwal, superintendent of police (city 1).