The Maharashtra government has formed a panel to report on the incident.
Mumbai:
Two days after 24 COVID-19 patients died following an oxygen leakage at a hospital in Maharashtra’s Nashik, a video has emerged showing the exact moment when disaster struck. The accident took place on Wednesday at the Zakir Hussain Municipal Hospital, disrupting the supply of the gas for about 30 minutes.
All the victims were on ventilators and in need of a constant supply of the gas. The hospital is a Covid-dedicated facility with around 150 patients being oxygen-dependent or on ventilators at that time.
Visuals of the incident earlier showed white fumes covering the entire area locality. A new CCTV footage has now surfaced showing the exact spot where it happened.
It has two men standing beside the tanker from which the gas is being transferred to the hospital’s storage facility through a pipe. All of a sudden, the gas begins to leak and the persons standing in the vicinity are seen running for safety.
The Maharashtra government had ordered a seven-member committee under Nashik Divisional Commissioner, Radhakrishna Game, to probe the incident and submit its report within 15 days.
The local police, too, have filed a case against unknown persons.
The accident and its tragic fallout came amid a raging COVID-19 crisis in the state, worsened by a severe shortage of oxygen, hospital beds, essential drugs, and even vaccines.
The crisis is part of the nationwide emergency that pushed the country’s medical infrastructure to the verge of collapse.