7 COVID-19 patients dead in 3 hrs at Nalasopara hospital; families allege deaths due to lack of oxygen supply

Seven COVID19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit of Vinayaka Hospital in Nalasopara East died within three hours on Monday While the relatives alleged the deaths were caused due to lack of oxygen supply the hospital administration said the patients were all in critical condition Later relatives of the deceased gheraoed the hospital alleging that the administration did not inform them about the shortage of oxygen cylindersPatientsrsquo kin protestingFamily members of the deceased gathered outside the hospital and protested blaming the administration for the deaths Officers from the nearby Tulinj police station had to intervene to disperse the agitated crowdmidday was first to highlight on April 10 the shortage of oxygen supply in Vasai Virar and Nalasopara where hospitals were forced to turn away critical patients And the situation has not improved since Among the patients who died at Vinayaka Hospital were Ram Babu Verma 52 Ranjanben Shah 55 and Rizwan Qadri 52Verma a tailor was admitted to the hospital on April 5 ldquoHe was also suffering from a heart diseaserdquo said his son Rahul Verma Shah was admitted a week ago ldquoWe thought she would recover if we admitted her to Vinayaka Hospital But the doctors did not take proper care of patients There is a severe lack of oxygen but the hospital authority kept us in the darkrdquo her nephew Amit Raja told midday ldquoI saw an employee unloading oxygen cylinders from an ambulance and rushing inside the hospital If there was no shortage why did he take the oxygen cylinder from his vanrdquo asked RajaQadri a resident of Malad reached Vinayaka Hospital about 10 days back after undergoing treatment for his lung infection and severe pneumonia at two other hospitals at Malad and Mira RoadDeceased patients Ranjanben Shah and Ram Babu VermaldquoDoctors told me that his lung is 80 per cent infected He also had pneumonia but they said his COVID19 test was negativerdquo said his sister Shaheen Haddadi ldquoWe got him an ICU bed at Vinayaka Hospital thinking there would be better supply of oxygen here as the Mira Road hospital had run out of cylindersrdquoldquoThe hospital charged us Rs 34000 for an injection and said he will be cured But my brother did not surviverdquo said Haddadi who reached hospital at 5 pm and saw doctors trying to resuscitate Qadri but he was lsquomotionlessrsquo Qadri a chemist had polio ldquoHis leg was paralysedrdquo she added He is survived by his wife and two sonsThe relatives of the four other deceased could not be traced till the time of going to the pressMost patients were criticalldquoThis is a tertiary care centre in Vasai Virar area where COVID19 patients are being treated since last one year Most patients are transferred or referred from different hospitals and their conditions are already critical Oxygen level of most of them is low at about 30 per cent or 40 per cent or their lungs are badly damaged sometimes up to 8090 per cent Since we are the only big hospital in this area we cannot refuse to admit themrdquo said Dr Shashikant Yadav from Vinayaka HospitalldquoThe seven patients who died today were admitted in critical condition Their relatives were apprised of their critical health condition since the day one of their admission We do administer relevant medicines for the speedy recovery of the patients but they could not survive due to their critical health and weak immune systemrdquo he addedRajendra Kamble senior inspector at Tulinj police station said ldquoIf anyone wants to register a complaint they can approach usrdquoA patient Rizwan QadriThere is a shortageThree patients at Riddhivinayak hospital also died on Monday ldquoTheir lungs were badly damagedrdquo said Venkat Goyal dean of Riddhivinayak hospital in Nalasopara ldquoThere is a deficiency of oxygen supply in the area but the patients at our hospital were supplied an adequate amount of oxygenrdquo he addedDr Mohammad Farooq Shah who runs Rehmat Medical Centre and Day Care Centre in Sopara village for the underprivileged patients said ldquoAt present I am treating 19 COVID19 patients Two of them are critical but we are not getting oxygen One patient needs oxygen at least 10 litresminute but we had to reduce it to 3 litresminute due to a severe scarcity of supply these daysrdquo said Dr Shah who charges merely Rs 30 per day from each patient