Probe ordered into Rajasthan hospital deaths

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan government has ordered an inquiry into the deaths of three patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a government hospital in Jodhpur town allegedly to due to non-availability of oxygen gas, an official said Friday.

The three patients -- Vinod Panwar, 45, Choti Devi, 60, and Kamla Devi, 35, -- were on ventilators in the ICU of Mathura Das Mathur Hospital when the oxygen supply allegedly stopped. The deaths were reported between 11 p.m. Thursday and 4 a.m. Friday.

The wards of the three patients alleged that they had reported interrupted supply of the oxygen to the hospital authorities, but they could not arrange the gas cylinders on time. The patients then approached various hospitals on their own which also refused to help them.

"People in the oxygen gas supply unit of the hospital suddenly told us that there was no gas available. We approached everyone in the hospital, nobody helped us," said Kamla Devi?s husband Gumana Ram.

?The state government has formed a two-member team to probe the matter. Action will be taken if negligence is found on the part of hospital authorities,? an official of state?s medical and health department told IANS.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot also sought details about the deaths Friday evening.

The government hospitals in Jodhpur, the home constituency of Gehlot, have been embroiled in controversies in the past too.

Over February and March, at least 17 pregnant women died of excessive bleeding at two other state-run Umaid Hospital and Mahatma Gandhi Hospital in Jodhpur after they were allegedly administered contaminated IV fluids of a particular batch manufactured by Parental Surgical India Pvt Ltd.

Three doctors have been suspended and an FIR lodged against the IV fluids manufacturing company.