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

A cop tries to disperse the crowd outside Virar’s Vinayaka Hospital, on Monday. Pics/Hanif Patel

Seven COVID-19 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 cylinders.

Patients' kin protesting

Family 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 crowd.

mid-day 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, 52.

Verma, a tailor, was admitted to the hospital on April 5. "He was also suffering from a heart disease," said his son Rahul Verma. Shah was admitted a week ago. "We 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 dark," her nephew Amit Raja told mid-day. "I 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 van?" asked Raja.

Qadri, 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 Road.

Deceased patients Ranjanben Shah and Ram Babu Verma

"Doctors told me that his lung is 80 per cent infected. He also had pneumonia, but they said his COVID-19 test was negative," said his sister Shaheen Haddadi. "We 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 cylinders."

"The hospital charged us Rs 34,000 for an injection and said he will be cured. But my brother did not survive," said Haddadi, who reached hospital at 5 pm and saw doctors trying to resuscitate Qadri, but he was ‘motionless'. Qadri, a chemist, had polio. "His leg was paralysed," she added. He is survived by his wife and two sons.

The relatives of the four other deceased could not be traced till the time of going to the press.

Most patients were critical

"This is a tertiary care centre in Vasai Virar area where COVID-19 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 80-90 per cent. Since we are the only big hospital in this area, we cannot refuse to admit them," said Dr Shashikant Yadav from Vinayaka Hospital.

"The 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 system," he added.

Rajendra Kamble, senior inspector at Tulinj police station, said, "If anyone wants to register a complaint, they can approach us."

A patient, Rizwan Qadri

There is a shortage

Three patients at Riddhivinayak hospital also died on Monday. "Their lungs were badly damaged," said Venkat Goyal, dean of Riddhivinayak hospital in Nalasopara. "There is a deficiency of oxygen supply in the area, but the patients at our hospital were supplied an adequate amount of oxygen," he added.

Dr Mohammad Farooq Shah, who runs Rehmat Medical Centre and Day Care Centre in Sopara village for the under-privileged patients, said, "At present I am treating 19 COVID-19 patients. Two of them are critical but we are not getting oxygen. One patient needs oxygen at least 10 litres/minute, but we had to reduce it to 3 litres/minute due to a severe scarcity of supply these days," said Dr Shah, who charges merely Rs 30 per day from each patient.