New Delhi – At least 22 coronavirus Critically ill patients died in an Indian hospital on Wednesday when the oxygen supply to their ventilators was interrupted for about half an hour due to a leak.
“According to the information available to us, the leak was noticed at the oxygen tank that supplied oxygen to these patients,” Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope told reporters. “The interrupted supply could be related to the deaths of the patients in the hospital.”
The incident took place at Dr Zakir Hussain’s Municipal Hospital, a special COVID-19 treatment facility located in the city of Nashik, Maharashtra.
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Maharashtra is the hardest hit state in India amid one devastating second wave of COVID-19 infections. There are nearly 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. “While hospital staff fixed the leaks, which took about 35 minutes, the oxygen supply to the ventilators remained interrupted … 22 patients died.”
All 22 victims received life support via ventilation. The hospital is currently treating more than 100 coronavirus patients.
Police have registered a case and are formally investigating the incident, Sonawane told CBS News.
“The tragedy in a hospital in Nashik over the leakage of oxygen tanks is heartbreaking. Haunted by the loss of life as a result. Condolences to the next of kin in this sad hour,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on Twitter.
The state of Maharashtra is one of dozens of Indian states that have sought emergency aid from the federal government over an acute shortage of oxygen, hospital beds, vaccines and drugs.
At least four major hospitals in India’s capital, New Delhi, also reported an oxygen deficiency on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Modi’s government has been heavily criticized for the deficits in recent weeks, with opposition parties accusing him of mismanagement, unpreparedness and insensitivity.
Maharashtra State Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray previously claimed he was told that Modi was conducting election campaigns in another state when he called his office to ask for emergency oxygen.
DANISH SIDDIQUI / REUTERS
Amid mounting criticism, Modi turned to the nation on Wednesday evening, assuring people that steps were being taken to ensure adequate supplies of oxygen, medicines, hospital beds and vaccines.
“I want to assure you all that the government is with you,” Modi concluded.
On Wednesday, when India’s second wave showed no signs of even a spike, France said it would impose a mandatory 10-day quarantine on travelers arriving from India.
Concerns in France and elsewhere about travel from India are not only great spread of COVID-19 in the country of more than 1.3 billion people, as well as 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.
While no conclusive data has yet been collected, some epidemiologists fear that, as with variants discovered in Brazil and elsewherethese new strains may be more contagious and potentially cause more health complications than the original virus.
India has reported 15.6 million cases and more than 182,000 COVID-19 deaths, making it the second most affected country in the world after just the United States.