News Analysis India

Tag: Oxygen Leak

  • Oxygen leakage at Siliguri hospital triggers panic

    By PTI
    SILIGURI: Oxygen leakage at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in Siliguri triggered panic among COVID patients and their families on Friday morning, officials said.

    The incident happened around 9.15 am when the leakage was detected in a pipe supplying oxygen to the COVID block of the hospital, they said.

    The oxygen clouded the room where the leak was detected, triggering panic among the patients who thought that fire may have broken out.

    The COVID patients started running out in panic amid the chaos, while large number of people, including their family members, gathered outside the block.

    Soon, the fire brigade was informed and two fire tenders were rushed from the Matigara fire station, officials said.

    The situation was brought under control after stopping the oxygen supply for some time, they said.

    No one was injured and no other sorts of damage were reported due to the incident, they added.

    The leakage was repaired and normalcy returned, officials said.

  • Maharashtra: FIR registered in connection with death of 22 COVID-19 patients in Nashik hospital

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Police registered an FIR against unidentified persons on Thursday in connection with the death of 22 COVID-19 patients at a hospital in Nashik following the disruption of oxygen supply, an official said.

    The incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon when the oxygen supply to patients stopped suddenly because of a malfunction in the main storage at Dr Zakir Hussain Hospital, run by the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC).

    An FIR was registered in the early hours of Thursday at the Bhadrakali police station in Maharashtra’s Nashik city against unidentified persons under Indian Penal Code Section 304-A (causing death by negligence), the official said.

    A total of 157 patients were undergoing treatment in the 150-bed COVID-19 hospital when the incident occurred, the NMC had said.

    The deceased, including 10 women, were in the age group of 33 to 74 years, it said.

    The disruption of medical oxygen supply was caused by leakage from a storage plant, officials earlier said.

    They said the incident occurred when oxygen was being filled in one of the tanks from a tanker, which disturbed the supply to the patients who were on ventilators as well as to those dependent on oxygen for breathing.

    The Maharashtra government on Wednesday announced a probe into the incident by a seven-member committee and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh would be provided to the families of each victim.