Less than two weeks after the devastating news of more than 100 children dying due to cut in oxygen supply in Gorakhpur’s Baba Raghav Das Medical College, three children have died in a government hospital in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, allegedly due to a cut in oxygen supply.
R Prasanna, Director of Health Services, however, told ANI that there was a drop in oxygen pressure and not a cut in supply at the BR Ambedkar Memorial Hospital . He said the doctors on duty quickly intervened and sorted the issue. He attributed the deaths to illness.
According to an Indian Express report, Prasanna said that the attendant in-charge of the oxygen supply was found inebriated while on duty and has been suspended.
Health Secretary Subrat Sahoo also maintained that oxygen supply was not disrupted and the reservoir’s volume level was restored to the normal range within 15 minutes after the drop was noticed.
Sahoo, however, said that the hospital staff member, who was drunk and on duty at the oxygen supply unit from 2 pm to 8 pm on 20 August, has been arrested.
Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh ordered a probe into the deaths.
“No one responsible for this tragic incident will be spared,” Singh said in a statement.
Congress leaders and relatives of the children, while speaking to reporters, alleged that negligence in oxygen supply led to the deaths.
Demanding a high-level inquiry into the incident, Congress spokesperson Gyanesh Sharma said:
The government is trying to cover up the death of the children due to disruption in oxygen supply.
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