New Delhi – At least 22 coronavirus patients who were in critical condition died Wednesday in an Indian hospital when the oxygen supply to the ventilators was cut off for about half an hour due to a leak.
“According to the information available to us, the leak has been detected in the oxygen tank that supplied oxygen to these patients,” Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope told reporters. “The disrupted supply could be related to the death of patients in the hospital.”
The incident happened at Dr Zakir Hussain Municipal Hospital, a dedicated COVID-19 treatment center in the city of Nashik, Maharashtra state.
ANI / Reuters
Maharashtra is the most affected state of India in the middle of a devastating second wave of COVID-19 infections. There are about 4 million cases of coronavirus in the state, which reports more than 60,000 new infections daily.
“The pipes connecting the hospital’s ventilation system to a large oxygen tank leaked this morning,” police officer Sajan Sonawane told CBS News. “Although the hospital staff fixed the leaks, which took about 35 minutes, the oxygen supply to the ventilators remained cut off … 22 patients are confirmed dead.”
All 22 victims had vital fan support. The hospital currently treats more than 100 patients with coronavirus.
Police have filed a case and have begun formal investigations into the incident, Sonawane told CBS News.
“The tragedy of a Nashik hospital due to the leakage of oxygen tanks is heartbreaking. Distressed by the loss of lives because of this. Condolences to the grieving families at this sad time,” the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Twitter.
The state of Maharashtra is among a dozen states in India that have called for emergency help from the federal government over acute oxygen shortages, hospital beds, vaccines and medicines.
At least four major hospitals in India’s capital, New Delhi, also reported oxygen shortages on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Modi’s government has faced widespread criticism in recent weeks for scarcity, and opposition parties have accused it of mismanagement, unpreparedness and insensitivity.
Uddhav Thackeray, chief minister of the state of Maharashtra, previously claimed that he had been told that Modi was busy with the election campaign in another state when he called his office to ask for emergency oxygen supply.
DANISH SIDDIQUI / REUTERS
Amid growing criticism, Modi addressed the nation Wednesday night, assuring people that steps were being taken to ensure an adequate supply of oxygen, medicines, hospital beds and vaccines.
“I want to make sure the government is with you,” Modi concluded.
On Wednesday, with India’s second wave showing no signs of a peak yet, France still said it would impose a mandatory ten-day quarantine for travelers arriving from India.
Concern for travel from India to France and elsewhere is not just a frantic thing dissemination 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 conclusive data have not yet been collected, some epidemiologists fear this, as with variants detected in Brazil and elsewhere, these new strains could be more infectious and possibly cause more health complications than the original virus.
India has reported 15.6 million cases and more than 182,000 deaths from COVID-19, making it the second most affected country in the world, just behind the United States.