Nightmare continues in Goa hospital as 15 more COVID patients die as oxygen dips again
The development comes just two days after 26 Covid-19 patients died at the same facility.
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Fifteen Covid-19 patients died at state-run Goa Medical College and Hospital allegedly due to a dip in oxygen levels early on Thursday.
As many as 26 patients had died at the premier state-run hospital on Tuesday. A day after, on Wednesday, the Bombay high court had directed the Goa government to ensure that there are no more casualties at the hospital due to oxygen shortage.
“The oxygen interruptions are causing problems leading to deaths. Last night, the interruption that was caused between midnight and 8am caused 15 deaths,” GMC nodal officer Dr Viraj Khandeparkar told the high court, which was hearing a PIL regarding oxygen shortage.
Relatives and resident doctors at GMCH made frantic calls through the night as the oxygen pressure started falling in the hospital’s Covid wards around 1 am. One of the petitioners in the PILs filed in the High Court over Covid management said that after she received an SOS call, she reached out to the authorities, and that officials of the Health Department and police rushed over.
However, doctors said, oxygen pressure could be restored only in 20 minutes, which proved fatal for 15 patients.
“As far as piped oxygen is concerned, there was a dip in the night. There were small dips at least three-four times and one big dip of about half an hour,” GMC dean Dr SM Bandekar told the high court. Bandekar said the patients who succumbed during the period were those who had a high severity score.
Among the 15 who lost their lives in the early hours of Thursday was a couple. Their two young daughters were orphaned overnight.
The High Court had urged the government to ensure there were no more deaths due to oxygen on Wednesday, after Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said deaths of 26 Covid patients at GMCH in the early hours of Tuesday might have been due to oxygen issues. Told about the fresh deaths Thursday, the court said, “We are sorry.”
The court said the Centre should ensure that the allotted quota of medical oxygen was made available at the earliest to Goa, which has been reporting a very high-test positivity rate.
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