Agra hospital sealed, loses licence after oxygen ‘mock drill’

Agra’s chief medical officer Dr R C Pandey confirmed the suspension of the hospital’s licence in view of “anomalies found there”.

A private hospital in Agra was on Wednesday sealed and its licence suspended over allegations that authorities had turned off the oxygen supply for five minutes on April 26 to see which patients would survive, and left 22 people gasping for breath.

As many as 55 patients were shifted to other hospitals, officials said.

As many as 55 patients were shifted to other hospitals, officials said.

Agra’s chief medical officer Dr R C Pandey confirmed the suspension of the hospital’s licence in view of “anomalies found there”.

Additional chief medical officer (ACMO) Dr Virendra Bharti arrived at the hospital with deputy chief medical officer Dr R K Agnihotri to make sure no one was present in the hospital at the time of sealing.

“Orders for sealing the hospital were passed on Tuesday, but there were 55 patients in the hospital. No sealing could be done till they were shifted. Most of them were shifted to SN Medical College and Hospital (in Agra) and few of them went to private hospitals of their choice,” Pandey said.

The allegations are related to a video that surfaced on Monday where Shri Paras Hospital owner, Arinjay Jain, is heard saying that he conducted a “mock drill” at 7am on April 26 during an acute oxygen shortage in the city and 22 people were “eliminated” after they “turned blue”.

Jain, however, denied the allegations and said such an exercise was not done.

Following the allegations against the hospital, a case was registered against Jain at New Agra police station for violating the Epidemic Diseases Act, creating false alarm under the disaster management act and disobeying official orders under the Indian Penal Code.