More than 70 patients die at Indian state’s biggest Covid facility because of oxygen shortage

The Covid facility where the deaths occured has been reporting fluctuations in oxygen supply for six nights in a row now

India has been reported over 4,000 deaths from Covid from last four days, as dozens lose their lives in Goa Covid facility due to oxygen supply issues (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Seventy-five patients have died at a hospital in India in the past four days because of oxygen shortages due to “logistic issues”.

Goa Medical College and Hospital - the state’s biggest Covid facility - saw 13 more deaths on Friday, after 15 deaths were reported on Thursday, and before that, 21 on Wednesday. All deaths occurred to issues in supply of oxygen, according to Indian media reports.

The hospital has been reporting fluctuations for six nights in a row. The relatives of patients began sending out SOS calls on social media, prompting officials from the health department, including health secretary Ravi Dhawan, to rush to the hospital to ensure the supply is restored.

Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane told reporters earlier in the week that there was a shortfall in supply of medical oxygen and sought an investigation by the High Court.

The issue has invited strong criticism of the government’s handling of the crisis. The Goa Forward Party filing a police complaint against Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, and senior officials on Friday. Meanwhile an independent committee has been set up by the Goa government to investigate the issue.

The hospital has also witnessed an overwhelming amount of patients as India’s second wave continues to cripple the country’s healthcare system.

India has recorded 24 million infections and its highest ever number of daily deaths this week, 4,205.

However, according to experts, the real numbers are believed to be much higher.

Goa has the highest positivity rate in the country - 48.1 per cent as of Thursday evening.

On Friday morning the state reported 2,491 new cases and 62 deaths in 24 hours, to take its active caseload to nearly 33,000 and total number of deaths to nearly 2,000.