Seventeen patients have died at the government-run Maharaja Yashwantrao Hospital in Indore. The families of the deceased claimed that the deaths occurred due to oxygen supply being cut. (Image: mgmmcindore website)

Seventeen patients have died at the government-run Maharaja Yashwantrao Hospital in Indore, according to ABP News report. All the victims were being treated at the hospital for various ailments. The families of the deceased claimed that the deaths occurred due to oxygen supply being cut. The hospital authorities, however, rejected the allegations saying that the cause of deaths was natural, the report says. The government authorities told ABP News that they had around 40 ventilators. They said if the oxygen supply cut was the reason behind the deaths then all the patients would have died. The authorities stressed that rest of the patients were still alive. The authorities also did not provide a list of deceased to media, the report said. A political slugfest has erupted over the incident as Congress has demanded a probe into the incident. The party also sought solatium for the families of the deceased, the report says. However, the Madhya Pradesh government has not ordered any investigation in this regard.

The hospital came into the news last year after a five-year-old boy died and an infant patient’s condition turned critical after the overhead masks they were given supplied anesthetic agent instead of oxygen, as per PTI report. Maharaja Yeshwantrao (MY) Hospital acting Superintendent Sumit Shukla had then said that Ayush died during Hernia surgery while Rajveer (1) turned critical while being operated for a deformity.

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An investigation revealed that the pipeline that was supposed to supply oxygen to patients was carrying nitrous oxide. The operation theater, which was inaugurated a week before the incident, was sealed, the report said. A technician from a private company, Rajendra Choudhary, who was responsible for fitting the gas supply pipeline, had been booked for manslaughter, the report said.