At least seven Covid patients have died in two hospitals in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, due to an extreme oxygen shortage, according to physicians. Three Covid patients died at Meerut’s Anand Hospital, a private facility. At the KMC hospital, four more people died.
As the number of Covid cases rises in the country’s most populous district, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has insisted that the state has no oxygen shortage.
Several hospitals in Meerut, which is 24 kilometres from Delhi, have requested patients’ families to arrange for oxygen, according to sources.
The oxygen scarcity has been “continuous,” according to Dr. Subhash Yadav, Medical Superintendent of Anand Hospital. “Every day, we need 400 tanks, but we only get 90,” he said, revealing that the hospital has had to turn away critical patients who need high-pressure oxygen.
“Our oxygen supply ran out yesterday, and three patients in the hospital died as a result,” said Dr Yadav.
Not only did KMC Hospital lose four patients yesterday, but three patients died the day before, according to Dr. Sunil Gupta, the hospital’s president. “We were without oxygen from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. yesterday. We would have spared them if we had had oxygen “he said
The doctor stated that a lack of oxygen has become a “daily challenge” and that the problem area is oxygen control.
Mohammed Kasim, whose mother is in hospital with Covid, had to pay 25,000 to get an oxygen cylinder from Haryana’s Karnal, which is 110 kilometres away.
“‘We don’t have oxygen,’ the hospital said. ‘Get your patient discharged or make arrangements for oxygen,’ says the doctor “he said
Manoj Kumar, 50, purchased three oxygen cylinders for his brother, who is a patient at the KMC hospital, for Rs 1 lakh from Haryana’s Yamuna Nagar.
Media reached out to to the District Magistrate for comments but he is yet to respond.
