Medical oxygen was in short supply at the peak of the COVID-19 second wave
Lucknow:
A private hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra, whose owner was allegedly caught on audio bragging about how they shut off oxygen supply on April 27 for five minutes in a “mock drill” amid the Covid crisis, has been cleared of allegations that the exercise led to the deaths of 16 patients.
The UP government had ordered an inquiry into the incident at Agra’s Shree Paras Hospital after outrage.
A committee of investigators in its report said none of the 16 deaths at the hospital was due to the mock drill. It said all the patients died because they were already critical or had severe comorbidities.
According to the committee’s report, the investigating officer found that the hospital was given 149 oxygen cylinders with 20 in reserve on April 25 and 121 cylinders with 15 in reserve on April 26.
“This was found adequate for the patients admitted there. It was also found during the inquiry that attendants of some patients had reached the hospital with oxygen arranged from alternative sources,” the committee said.
