Oxygen mock drill causes death of 22 patients in Agra, UP govt orders probe

Agra: A video purportedly of a director of a private nursing home in Agra claiming several COVID-19 patients died as a result of a mock exercise that allegedly cut off medical oxygen supply, has gone viral.

“I decided to conduct an experiment/mock drill as we were facing an acute shortage of oxygen as people were not ready to discharge their patients despite multiple requests. At 7 AM on April 26, we snapped the oxygen supply for five minutes. Soon, 22 patients’ bodies turned blue and they started gasping for breath so we came to know that they won’t survive in case there is no oxygen. Then, we ask family members of the remaining 74 patients to arrange their own oxygen cylinders”, Arinjay Jain, owner of Paras Hospital on NH 2 can be heard saying in the purported video which is not verified yet.

Both Agra District Magistrate P.N. Singh and CMO R.C. Pandey on Tuesday reacted to the development, saying an inquiry has been ordered and action would follow on the basis of its report.

"We`ll look into the video surfaced about these deaths. There were 22 critical patients admitted in the hospital but have no details of their death," DM Singh told the media.

In a statement the District Magistrate claimed there was no death due to lack of oxygen on that day the alleged video was recorded. However, he said a probe would be conducted.

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