13 deaths inside hours set off panic in Tamil Nadu over oxygen scarcity

The dying of 13 critically ailing sufferers at Chengalpattu Government Medical College Hospital, south of Chennai, inside a span of 24 hours on Tuesday triggered panic following some experiences that it was attributable to oxygen scarcity, whilst the federal government mentioned there was no scarcity as of 6 pm Tuesday, when experiences final got here in.
The deceased had been between 40 and 85 years, medical doctors on the hospital mentioned.
Sources within the hospital mentioned there was a scarcity of oxygen for a quick whereas because of the delay in oxygen supply even because the state authorities ordered a probe to search out out whether or not oxygen scarcity led to the dying of all 13 sufferers.
Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan advised The Indian Express that there was ample amount of oxygen in accordance with data at 6 pm Tuesday.
“What happened later is being probed,” he mentioned. “We need to ascertain reasons for death. All 13 patients who died were from different blocks and wards in the hospital. None of them were Covid-19 patients; neither were they being treated for Severe Acute Respiratory Infections.”
While calls to a dozen medical faculties within the state, together with the foremost ones in Chennai and Madurai, confirmed that there was no scarcity of oxygen at current, Radhakrishnan mentioned there’s a disaster in personal hospitals. “All government hospitals have adequate supplies of oxygen now; private hospitals are in crisis – that is a fact. We are in the process of bringing them under a unified command centre for oxygen supply and distribution.”

He mentioned {that a} answer “to this crisis can be found only if the revised allocation is approved by the Centre (through the National Medical Oxygen Allotment)”.
Tamil Nadu’s day by day common demand for oxygen is 440 kilolitres (kl) , and Radhakrishnan mentioned the Centre had “wrongly” calculated it at 230 kl. “Now they (Centre) have agreed to correct it and give (us) 475 kl. But approval and allocation is delayed. There is no concrete solution for this crisis until then (when the revised allocation arrives),” Radhakrishnan mentioned.
Senior medical doctors at Chengalpattu Medical College, the place the 13 deaths had been reported, mentioned not all deaths had been attributable to oxygen scarcity however that there have been points in oxygen provide. “It could be partially technical. Even if there is supply and allocation, pressure fluctuations and other technical issues (can) also turn dangerous,” a senior surgeon on the hospital mentioned. “It is also about management.”

“There were also allegations that oxygen meant for us was being diverted to private hospitals, and that caused the delay. We do not know about that,” this surgeon added.
A preliminary inquiry by district collector A John Louis discovered that the deaths weren’t attributable to oxygen scarcity. “Oxygen supply was not interrupted at the hospital. I was there on the field last night and personally monitored the situation,” Louis mentioned.
Meanwhile, a number of sources at a number of personal hospitals within the state reported that the oxygen disaster is worsening in personal hospitals for the previous few days, and that many smaller well being amenities are compelled to discharge sufferers, given lack of oxygen provide.