A shocking story of medical negligence has come to light in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra, with 22 Covid-19 patients allegedly dying from lack of oxygen at Shri Paras hospital after the hospital owner decided to conduct a “mock drill” where the oxygen supply to the patients was supposed to be cut-off for five minutes. It is being alleged that due to the mock drill, the patients developed severe hypoxia symptoms with 22 patients succumbing with their deaths being covered up. The Yogi government has launched an inquiry and has sealed the hospital.
Social media erupted with uproar after a purported video of Paras hospital owner Dr Arinjay Jain went viral where he can be seen preparing for a mock drill which involved cutting off the oxygen supply for a period of five minutes to Covid-19 patients post which allegedly 22 patients succumbed to death.
In the video, where the voice is allegedly that of Dr Jain. He can be heard as saying, “22 patients turned blue after turning off the oxygen for 5 minutes, at that time 97 patients were admitted in Paras Hospital.”
However, District Magistrate Prabhu N Singh has denied the allegations as he stated that only four deaths have taken place at the hospital due to Covid-19 complications and there was no shortage of oxygen at any time.
He said, “The video was recorded on April 28 and we have found that no deaths were reported due to lack of oxygen during April 26 and 27. There was an ample supply of oxygen cylinders to the hospital and it is on record of the administration.”
Singh has stated that the videos are under investigation and legal action will be taken. At present, an inquiry has been launched on the orders of UP CM Yogi Adityanath with the hospital being sealed until the investigation concludes. All 55 patients of the hospital have been shifted to other hospitals.
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Moreover, Dr Arinjay Jain denied the allegations and claimed innocence as he said, “We had made an effort to check the oxygen level of the patients as there was a severe shortage of oxygen in those days. We wanted to save the patients, so we talked with our ICU staff to check the oxygen level of all the patients. There was a shortage of oxygen in those days and we wanted to see who would be the patients who would need high level of oxygen if the oxygen supply was cut off or not available on time. That’s what we were discussing about.”
The Yogi government must have the incident investigated to the fullest to find out if there is even an iota of truth in the video, it amounts to medical murder and Dr Jain and Paras Hospital must not be allowed to escape scot-free if the allegations are proven to be correct.
