MP: People hv not died because of oxygen supply failure,but due to illness- Indore Commissioner on reports of 17 pp… https://t.co/VzEaruJL6K — ANI (@ANI_news) 1498200223000

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INDORE: The death of 11 people, including two children, at MY Hospital sent shockwaves through the city on Thursday after reports that oxygen supply was mysteriously snapped for around 15 minutes between 3am and 4am, leading to the deaths.While panic spread, the administration went into damage control mode to insist these many deaths were “routine” in a large hospital. Divisional commissioner Sanjay Dubey ruled out the possibility that the deaths were caused by lack of oxygen or “any other negligence”, but said that the matter will be probed, if required.What fuelled panic was the fact that when mediapersons sought to find answers, all the records of dead patients and the logbook where oxygen supply is recorded vanished. Everywhere, official sought to say all is fine but refused to show the files.Some highly placed sources in the hospital confirmed that there was “disruption” in oxygen supply around 3am. But with oxygen plant records missing and the staff manning the system not to be found, information about the incident was limited to a group of senior officials, who refused to comment.Dubey, who is also chairman of autonomous body of MGM Medical College to which MY Hospital is attached, said, “There is no negligence. I have been to every ward of the hospital after certain local newspapers carried the misinformation. There was no break in oxygen supply. The deaths are routine in a 1400-bed hospital.” The hospital records 10-20 deaths a day, he said.As the panic spread, administrative officials, politicians and locals rushed to MY Hospital – the largest government medical facility in central India. What added to the worry is the hospital’s grim history. MY Hospital’s oxygen delivery system has been under scanner since the death of two children who were given nitrogen instead of oxygen in the paediatric OT on May 28, 2016.Officials on Thursday said that every day 60-70 patients are put on oxygen, which is supplied by pipe in almost all wards. “If the oxygen supply had been cut off, the rest of the patients should also have died,” Dubey pointed out.But that didn’t stop the panic, forcing hospital authorities to go into a huddle late afternoon. They seized records of patient deaths from the wards, ICU and neonatal ICU, and stopped flow of information. They later said 16 patients had died in the 24 hours since 8am on Wednesday. Hospital superintendent Dr V S Pal claimed that 11 persons had died in the night but refused to give any details, including time of deaths.