Tragedy struck the renowned Ruia Hospital in Andhra Pradesh's Tirupati on Monday as 11 Covid patients lost their lives due to an interruption in oxygen supply, Chittoor District Collector Harinarayan said.
The district authorities attributed the deaths to a five-minute delay in the arrival of an oxygen tanker at the hospital. However, with the oxygen supply restored immediately, a major tragedy was averted, the Collector said.
Around a thousand patients are undergoing treatment at the hospital. As the oxygen supply got affected all of a sudden, many patients began to choke. Doctors were seen attempting CPR procedures to revive the oxygen-starved patients, while kin of the patients used cardboard pieces to fan and revive them.
Even patients families alleged that oxygen supply was interrupted for around 25-45 minutes. To this, Collector Narayanan said that there was a five minutes disruption in reloading the oxygen cylinder that caused a pressure dip leading to the deaths.
He further adds, "The oxygen supply was restored within five minutes and everything is now normal. We have connected bulk cylinders and there is no reason to worry. A major disaster was averted because of quick action by medical staff.”
The oxygen tanker arrival from Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu had been delayed causing the crisis, he informed.
With a capacity of over 1,100 beds; more than 100 patients are in the ICU, and 400 on oxygen beds. Nearly 30 doctors were immediately rushed into the ICU to attend to the patients when the incident broke.
An inquiry has been initiated into the incident. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, who was apprised of the tragedy, has asked for a report.
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Andhra Pradesh is amongst the hardest hit states with coronavirus and has recorded over 12.87 lakh cases so far, while more than 22,000 infections cases were reported on Monday.