New Delhi – At least 22 coronavirus patients who were in a critical condition died in an Indian hospital on Wednesday when the oxygen supply to their fans was cut off for about half an hour due to a leak.
“According to the available information, the leak was noticed in the oxygen tank that supplies oxygen to these patients,” Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope told reporters. “The interruption of the offer could be related to the death of the patients in the hospital.”
The incident took place at Dr Zakir Hussain Municipal Hospital, a dedicated COVID-19 treatment facility in the city of Nashik, Maharashtra.
ANI / Reuters
Maharashtra is the worst affected country in India amid devastating second wave of COVID-19 infections. There are nearly 4 million cases of coronavirus in the state, reporting more than 60,000 new infections daily.
“The pipes that connected the hospital’s ventilator system to a large oxygen tank leaked this morning,” police officer Sajan Sonawane told CBS News. “While the hospital staff rectified the leaks, which lasted about 35 minutes, the oxygen supply to the fans remained cut off … 22 patients were confirmed dead.”
All 22 victims were on the ventilator’s life support. The hospital currently treats more than 100 coronavirus patients.
Police have registered a case and are launching formal investigations into the incident, Sonawane told CBS News.
“The tragedy in a hospital in Nashik due to the leakage of oxygen tanks is heartbreaking. Distressed by the loss of life as a result. Condolences to the grieving families in this sad hour,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on Twitter.
The state of Maharashtra is among a dozen Indian states that have asked the federal government for first aid over acute shortages of oxygen, hospital beds, vaccines and medicines.
At least four major hospitals in India’s capital, New Delhi, also reported oxygen deficiencies on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Modi’s government has come under widespread criticism over the past few weeks, with opposition parties accusing him of mismanagement, unpreparedness and insensitivity.
Maharashtra State Prime Minister Uddhav Thackeray had earlier claimed he had been informed that Modi was campaigning in another state when he called his office to ask for oxygen supply.
DEENSSE SIDDIQUI / REUTERS
Amid growing criticism, Modi addressed the country Wednesday night, urging people to take steps to ensure adequate oxygen supply, medicine, hospital beds and vaccines.
“I want to assure you that the government is with you,” Modi concluded.
On Wednesday, with India’s second wave still showing no signs of peaking, France said it would impose a mandatory ten-day quarantine for travelers arriving from India.
The concern in France and elsewhere about travel from India is not only the great distribution of COVID-19 in the country of more than 1.3 billion people, but also the spread of new strains that have emerged in the country, including a “double mutant” and as of Wednesday an identified “triple mutant” variant of the coronavirus.
Although no conclusive data has yet been collected, some epidemiologists fear that, as with variants detected in Brazil and elsewhere, these new strains can be more contagious and possibly cause more health complications than the original virus.
India has reported 15.6 million cases and more than 182,000 COVID-19 deaths, making it the second country worst affected, behind the United States alone.