LATUR: Relatives of COVID-19 patients took to the streets on Wednesday after a private hospital informed them about the shortage of oxygen at the facility in Maharashtra's Latur city, an official said.
A senior district official has, however, claimed that although there was a shortage of the life-saving gas, the supply has not been stopped.
A private hospital in Latur city intimated the kin of COVID-19 patients about the shortage of oxygen, following which relatives attempted to agitate at Shivaji Chowk area around 8 am, the official said.
The police managed to counsel the angry kin and cleared the road in 15 to 20 minutes, he said.
The director of the hospital has alleged that the facility has not been given enough medical oxygen to treat critical patients.
"The hospital has the capacity to treat 50 critical patients. My demand is 200 cylinders, but I was given 10 from one agency, despite paying an advance for the same," he said.
The district collector had been appraised about the situation, but he did not it seriously, the doctor claimed.
The hospital has 30 ICU beds and 20 patients are on ventilators, and some of them may need a large amount of oxygen, he said.
"The hospital is ready to set up an oxygen plant if the state government gives us space for it. If the situation persists, we might have to stop taking in patients," the hospital head added.
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When contacted, collector Prithviraj B P said, "There is a crunch of oxygen but the supply has not been stopped."
Latur on Tuesday recorded 1,477 fresh COVID-19 cases that took the tally of infections to 58,240, which includes 988 casualties.
The district currently has 16,200 active cases.