MADURAI: At least three to seven Covid patients, who were on Oxygen support at the ICU, died during Monday midnight at Government Rajaji Hospital here due to Oxygen shortage, alleged the relatives of the patients. As per the latest guidelines, only patients who have saturation below 90 are admitted to government hospitals in the district.
Of the 2,205 oxygen beds earmarked for Covid patients, 2,027 have been occupied and 178 are remaining vacant. Similarly, 758 of the 801 ICU beds have been occupied and 43 are remaining vacant, as on May 17 report. According to the family of patients undergoing treatment at GRH, there has been a shortage of oxygen since Sunday. “Pressure of oxygen supply was going down since Sunday evening and past midnight there was no oxygen supply at all. This caused breathlessness to many. After a gap of around 20 minutes, the supply resumed but the pressure was very low,” said Ramesh (name changed), attendant of a Covid patient.
Meanwhile, the hospital staff brought in oxygen cylinders. “But some patients, who are critical, needed high-pressure oxygen which could not be supported using cylinders,” he said, adding that a few attendants later made arrangements to bring in private cylinders to save their loved ones. They also complained that doctors only visit twice a day and were not available for round-the-clock service for critical patients.
Sources from GRH, on condition of anonymity, confirmed the incident but denied giving exact number of casualties. They said Minister P Moorthy along with Madurai MP Su Venkatesan rushed to the hospital and stayed past midnight to make arrangements to bring in medical oxygen from private suppliers and manufacturing units. “Just a few minutes before the lorries arrived, the oxygen in the storage tank turned empty. We made alternative arrangements.
This could have turned to an incident of mass casualty but was prevented with timely intervention,” hospital sources said. Similarly, there was also a delay in the arrival of lorries from Chennai and other districts on Monday at noon. “They should have reached by noon but were delayed by three hours. However, as the tank was refilled the previous night, we were able to manage it,” sources added.
Speaking to media, GRH Dean J Sangumuni (before being transferred to Sivaganga) denied the allegations and said there was no casualty due to oxygen shortage. He added that they have enough cylinders in the backup and the hospital administration made alternative arrangements when there was a delay. Speaking to Express, MP Su Venkatesan said the allocation of medical oxygen to Madurai has been reduced recently and steps are being taken to bring adequate oxygen.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan tweeted that with the support of Tamil Diaspora, TN received 80 MT of oxygen, of which 20 metric tonnes were allocated to Madurai. He added the government was in pursuit of the goal of oxygen self-sufficiency for the Madurai by June.