Three patients being treated for COVID-19 at the Maharaja Government Hospital in Vizianagaram died in the early hours of Monday, apparently due to an interruption in oxygen supply. While two people died in the hospital, one person died after being transferred to a private hospital for better treatment.
A tense situation prevailed in the hospital when family members and loved ones of patients arrived at the MR hospital after deaths were reported. Some of them identified their relatives and followed them into ambulances while they were being transferred to private hospitals.
Although the opposition parties claimed the toll was more than 10, officials claimed that only two patients died in the hospital and another in a private hospital.
Fifteen patients, who were in a critical situation in which 290 patients were hospitalized, were transferred to various private hospitals between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m.
MR Hospital superintendent Gowri Sankar said the administration took steps to move patients to nearby private hospitals after seeing the sudden drop in oxygen around 3:30 a.m.
Vizianagaram collector M. Hari Jawaharlal, who rushed to the hospital, told the media that the oxygen was coming from industries in Pydibhimavaram, Srikakulam district and the Visakhapatnam steel mill.
inspection
Vizianagaram’s joint collector, Mahesh Kumar, and biomedical engineers inspected the pipelines and supply system at the hospital. The technical malfunctions were resolved on Monday afternoon on a war basis.
Deputy Prime Minister Pamula Pushpa Srivani said that patients admitted to private hospitals in Vizianagaram would be transferred to corporate hospitals in Visakhapatnam if necessary.
Former Minister Sujay Krishna Ranga Rao, TDP Vizianagaram parliamentary wing president Kimidi Nagarjuna, and Vizianagaram TDP in charge Aditi Gajapathi Raju sought a high-level investigation into the incident, claiming that the district administration had hidden the facts and the death toll.