NHRC issues notice to MP Govt. over deaths due to lack of oxygen

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken suo motu cognizance in the deaths of 11 patients, including two children at Maharaja Yashwantrao (MY) Hospital here, after the oxygen supply mysteriously snapped for around 15 minutes on June 21st.

The Commission has observed that the contents of the news report, indicate gross negligence by the hospital authorities amounting to violation of Right to Life of the patients, who were in the medical care of a government run hospital.

As a result, it has issued a notice to the Chief Secretary, Government of Madhya Pradesh asking for a detailed report in the matter within four weeks.

He was also directed to submit a specific report whether 10-20 deaths a day, as mentioned in the news report are occurring at the MY Hospital, due to lack of infrastructure or any kind of negligence and whether the government has taken any steps to address the issue.

The chairman of the autonomous body of MGM Medical Hospital, to which the MY Hospital is attached, had stated that there was no disruption in oxygen supply, as he had been to every ward of the hospital after certain local newspapers carried the misinformation.

The 1400 bed hospital, records 10-20 deaths a day. However, reportedly, a highly placed source in the hospital had confirmed that there was disruption in oxygen supply around 3 am on the June21.

It is further mentioned that the oxygen delivery system of the MY Hospital has been under scanner since the death of two children, who were given nitrogen gas instead of oxygen in the Paediatric Operation theatre on the May 28 last year.

The officials of the hospital have said that 60-70 patients are put on oxygen in different wards every day. If the oxygen supply had been cut off, the rest of the patients should also have died.

Reportedly, when the media persons sought to find answers, all the records of the dead patients and the logbook in which oxygen supply is recorded, vanished. The hospital authorities, allegedly, had seized the records pertaining to deaths of the patients from the wards, ICU and Neo-natal ICU. The figure of deaths also continued to be varied from 11 to 16.