6 patients die in Bengaluru, Kalaburagi as oxygen crisis deepens in Karnataka

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, May 04, 2021:     The oxygen crisis deepened in parts of Karnataka, including Bengaluru, with hospitals raising concerns over the gap in oxygen supply.

 

A day after 24 deaths were reported in Chamarajanagar district allegedly due to oxygen shortage, two patients died allegedly due to shortage of oxygen at Arka Hospital in Bengaluru in the wee hours of Tuesday. Sources at the BBMP told India Today that the two patients had co-morbidities and were on oxygen.

The hospital put out an SOS request on the evening of May 3 and the situation turned critical by 8 pm. By the time help arrived at 4 am, two patients had died. A total of 45 patients are said to have been admitted to the hospital.

A few medical centres in Bengaluru have raised an alarm against the oxygen shortage to treat critically ill Covid patients. An executive of the Chaitanya Medical Centre in Yelahanka said there was an oxygen crisis on Monday due to which they had to shift all their Covid patients to other hospitals.

"Now we have got the stock of oxygen, which would last for two to three days, but yesterday we shifted all our patients to other hospitals as the stock had exhausted," the executive said.

Medax Hospitals in RT Nagar in Bengaluru had also flagged the shortage of oxygen. In his letter to the relatives of the Covid patients, the medical director of the hospital Dr Srihari R Shapur wrote that the facility was running out of oxygen and asked them to make necessary arrangements in other hospitals.

"This is to inform you that we are running out of oxygen supply. We are unable to provide oxygen care for the patient. We have been informed since May 1 (6 pm). We will shortly run out of oxygen by 5 pm on May 3. Kindly arrange for beds in different hospitals. We regret this situation," Dr Srihari stated in the letter.

Rajmahal hospital too wrote to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike stating that the vendor company was not supplying oxygen despite repeated requests.

"In this scenario, managing 30 plus Covid patients is becoming a challenge. We need your immediate intervention and assistance to tide over the situation," the manager of the hospital said in it.

Bengaluru Rural MP DK Suresh too expressed concern over the paucity of the life-saving gas in Rajarajeshwari Medical College in Bengaluru. In his video message on Monday, he asked Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to arrange oxygen for the Covid patients.

Meanwhile, four Covid-19 patients died due to lack of oxygen at a hospital in Afzalpur taluk of Kalaburagi district. A total of 32 patients are under treatment at the hospital.

The Kalaburagi DC, however, issued a statement, saying that the deaths were due to co-morbidities and not because of oxygen shortage. District in-charge minister of Kalaburagi Murugesh Nirani also ruled out any shortage and said he has been monitoring it personally. He also clarified that the three deaths that occurred today were not due to oxygen paucity.

The Covid scenario in Karnataka has become grim with the state reporting over 40,000 cases per day.

On Monday itself, over 44,000 people tested positive for Covid. As many as 239 people died on Monday alone taking the toll so far to 16,250. The city is reporting over 100 deaths daily ever since the second wave of Covid hit the country.

Courtesy:India Today