Oxygen snap in Chennai hospital kills 18 ICU patients

Chennai: As many as 18 patients admitted to the intensive care unit of a private hospital in Nandambakkam died between Wednesday morning and Thursday night after oxygen supply was snapped because generators in the basement stopped working. Not only were the generators placed in the basement, so too was the oxygen supply hub.

The blame game began soon after the bodies of the dead victims were shifted to the Royapettah government hospital. Relatives of the deceased expressed great shock over the incident.

Government officials blamed the hospital, reportedly built in a low lying area prone to flooding during monsoons, for placing its generator sets in the basement while hospital owners blamed the electricity department for not supplying uninterrupted power to an essential service like a hospital.

“My mother Paranjyothi injured her shoulder in a train accident. She was admitted for a surgery on November 21. She was alright and had started talking to us after the surgery. But now she is dead,” said grief stricken Durga Prasad of Royapettah, a son of the deceased.

A MIOT hospital spokesperson said that only 14 patients died after oxygen supply was cut in the hospital and that the other four died on the way or in the Royapettah GH.

The hospital had located their generators and oxygen supply chain in the basement of the building. The side wall of the building collapsed in the flood due to which the water gushed in and flooded the basement.  The hospital had shifted as many as 90 patients from their premises to government hospitals after the incident. Police said case of unnatural dea-ths was registered in connection with the incident.

As many as 340 people have lost their lives in rain related incidents in Tamil Nadu since the start of north east monsoon on October 28. According to C. Sridhar, additional commissioner of police, south, a case of unnatural deaths has been registered in connection with the incident.

"Only after a detailed probe we will know if there was medical negligence or any other kind of violation which led to the deaths of the patients" he said.

Toll so far 340

As many as 340 people have lost their lives in rain related incidents in Tamil Nadu since the start of north east monsoon on October 28. Cuddalore saw the maximum number of casualties – 75, closely followed by Kancheepuram with 72 deaths. Chennai recorded 48 rain related deaths, government sources said.

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