7 Covid patients reported dead due to Oxygen crisis at Telangana's King Koti Hospital

Hyderabad: At least seven Covid-19 patients at the King Koti Hospital, a dedicated Covid facility of the state government, were feared to have lost their lives from lack of adequate oxygen supply on Sunday.

The oxygen tank at the hospital began showing low pressure starting 3 pm on Sunday. An oxygen tanker truck that was to arrive by then to refill the hospital tank was delayed as the driver reportedly lost his way near Jadcherla.

As panic spread over the non-arrival of the tanker, the Narayanguda police got into the act, traced the truck and guided the driver to the hospital. By then, the drop in the pressure in the oxygen lines at the hospital led to seven patients losing their lives. Narayanguda inspector G. Bhupati said the tanker reached the hospital around 3.30 pm.

According to some hospital staff, four Covid-19 patients died in the ICU A ward, two in ICU B, while the seventh patient who was in the male isolation ward also succumbed as the pressure in the oxygen line dropped. The dead included four patients who were aged between 35 and 45 years, it was learnt. A policeman on duty at the hospital also said that seven people were believed to have lost their lives on account of poor oxygen supply.

The parents of one such deceased patient, who managed to procure an oxygen cylinder, desperately implored the hospital staff to use the cylinder to provide oxygen to the patient, despite the hospital staff saying the person had passed away.

Attendants of several patients rushed to get oxygen cylinders in autorickshaws and on two wheelers to save the lives of their loved ones being treated at the hospital. But the search for cylinders in the last minute meant that some of them managed to reach the hospital with one only late in the night.

The Government District Hospital at King Koti dedicated to treating Covid-19 patients, has 300 oxygen beds and 50 ICU beds.