KADAPA: Two persons, one Covid patient and another suffering from asthma, died as they reportedly could not get oxygen in time at a hospital in Proddatur of Kadapa district. Denying that there was a shortage of oxygen in the hospital, doctors said the two patients were above 70 years and their deaths were not related to lack of oxygen. An enquiry has been ordered by the district administration.
According to Ramakrisha, son of one of the deceased patients M Narayana (74), he admitted his father at the hospital after he tested positive for Covid on Friday last. “Around 2.3 am on Tuesday, a nurse told me that oxygen levels are good. However, around 5 am another nurse called me and told me that the oxygen supply had been stalled as the stock was over. When I reached the hospital, I found my father lying on the floor without oxygen supply. Doctors told me that he died due to lack of oxygen support,’’ he claimed.
Similarly, another woman Ramalakshmamma (70) was being treated at the hospital since Monday and oxygen supply to her was stalled as the pipeline blasted. The nurse told the attendants of the woman that there was a technical problem and asked them to shift the elderly patient to another hospital. Even as an ambulance arrived at the hospital, the woman breathed her last.Hospital superintendent Dr Lakshmi Prasad, however, maintained that there was no dearth of oxygen. “There is a six kilo litre oxygen tanker available and of the 100 oxygen cylinders, 86 are full,’’ he said.