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Nashik hospital oxygen leak: 'My mother died gasping for breath,' says woman as toll rises to 24
A total of 150 Covid-19 patients were admitted to Dr Zakir Naik hospital of which 23 were on ventilator support, Nashik's municipal authorities said.
The death toll in the Nashik hospital tragedy rose to 24 on Wednesday evening after two more Covid-19 patients died, district collector Suraj Mandhare said. The incident happened in the morning when one of the tankers supplying oxygen to patients receiving treatment for the coronavirus disease at Dr Zakir Naik Municipal Hospital malfunctioned.
Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope said that among those who lost their lives, 11 were women and 11 men. He also said that a probe has been ordered.
As the news of disruption of oxygen supply due to leakage in storage tank spread, family members rushed to the ward where Covid-19 patients on ventilator were undergoing treatment.
There were heart-wrenching scenes as patients' condition became critical and doctors and nurses could not do anything in the absence of oxygen supply, news agency PTI reported quoting a witness.
"My brother was about to get discharge in the next two days as his condition was improving. Today when I brought him tiffin, he said he would eat later. Immediately after our conversation the hospital ran out of oxygen and within two hours my brother was dead," 42-year-old Pramod Walukar told PTI.
Another woman, who also lost her mother, said her condition was improving. "But the oxygen supply got disrupted and she died gasping for breath," she said.
A total of 150 Covid-19 patients were admitted to the hospital of which 23 were on ventilator support, the district’s municipal authorities said.
The hospital authorities have asked the police to restrict the entry into the Covid-19 ward after which the security in the hospital has been beefed up.
The Maharashtra government has announced an ex-gratia of ₹5 lakh to the families of the the patients who lost their lives. "No one should politicise this unfortunate incident. This is an attack on Maharashtra," a statement from chief minister Uddhav Thackeray's office (CMO) said.
