Nashik: Parikshit Walukar cannot forget the scenes that unfolded at the Dr Zakir Hussain Hospital in Nashik Wednesday afternoon.
“I kept pumping my brother’s chest for 1.5 hours but there was no oxygen,” he told ThePrint. “I can still hear the screams that were echoing in the hospital, 24 people died.”
Parikshit’s brother, Pramod Narayan Walukar, was among the 24 who died at the Nashik Municipal Corporation-run hospital, after leakage in the main oxygen storage tank deprived them of oxygen.
“Relatives of other patients took turns in helping each other,” added the Nashik native. “There were only two nurses; how could they have pumped the chests of all these patients? Those with a normal level of oxygen also died.”
On Thursday, a day after the incident, relatives of the victims told ThePrint that alleged negligence and a lack of staff contributed to creating the tragedy.
Families raise questions
Videos of the incident show oxygen gushing out and blanketing the area around the tank. The 13-kilolitre tank was built by Taiyo Nippon Sanso Private Limited and was made operational in March last year.
#WATCH | An Oxygen tanker leaked while tankers were being filled at Dr Zakir Hussain Hospital in Nashik, Maharashtra. Officials are present at the spot, operation to contain the leak is underway. Details awaited. pic.twitter.com/zsxnJscmBp
— ANI (@ANI) April 21, 2021
According to Parikshit Walukar, it took hospital authorities an hour-and-a-half to fix the leak and regularise the supply. “My brother passed away at 1.30 pm; the machine was restarted 20-25 minutes later… Not deaths but 24 murders took place yesterday,” he said.
Another eyewitness at the scene, Sunny Donde, told ThePrint that he heard an explosion following which the oxygen began leaking.
“Out here, the oxygen gas had spread and we could not see anything. We could hear people scream because the staff was less and I was also helping out. There were no cylinders available, no oxygen was available,” Donde, whose mother is also being treated at the hospital, said.
“For the past few days we were seeing a thin coat of ice forming on the oxygen tank. The maintenance people would come every day and would keep trying to remove the ice,” he added. “This went on for about 4-5 days, and the day before yesterday they used a shower to remove the ice but I don’t think they checked the pipe.”
The medical officer-in-charge of the hospital, Nitin Rawte, however, refused to comment.
Another official with the health department, who didn’t wish to be named, said that there were no such irregularities.
Hours after the incident, the Uddhav Thackeray government initiated a high-level probe into the incident.
“This incident in Nashik is not only shocking for all of us but it also teaches the administration that we have to be very careful in this whole struggle,” the chief minister said. “Such incidents should not happen in the future. The administration should work very carefully to prevent any incidents that could erode the morale of the health system.”
State Health Minister Rajesh Tope, also said, “If anyone is responsible for the deaths, they will face legal action.”
‘Understaffed’
On Thursday morning, the scene outside the 150-bed hospital, which had been converted into a Covid-19 facility last year, bore a grim look.
Police personnel were manning the hospital gates while relatives of Covid patients had gathered outside and were engaged in a heated argument with the hospital staff.
They all wanted to be let in as they were holding packets of food for their family members inside. After a short impasse, they were let in.
The relatives of the Covid patients alleged that they were being asked to take care of their family members due to a shortage in hospital staff.
Vicky Jadhav, a Nashik resident whose 65-year-old grandmother passed away following Wednesday’s incident, said, “I would go in the morning and in the evening to give food, I would also check the oxygen pipe, and change my grandmother’s diaper, we also had to tend to the the urine pipe; the nurse would tell us to do it ourselves.
“For the last 4-5 days, the doctor would take just one round, after that no one would even check how the patient is, if they’re even breathing,” he added. “So we had to take care of them. I can still be inside, I am young but what about those with older relatives, what would they do?”
Parikshit made similar claims.
“My young brother and I would also take care of the patients around us because there weren’t as many staff,” he said. “The oxygen pipe would also detach; this happened for many patients; I myself helped reattach the oxygen pipes of many patients with a Fevistick.”
The health department official quoted above, however, denied the charges.
“We did have staff constraints. For instance, like there were new recruits so if there are 10 recruits, four people would continue but the rest were leaving because of the workload during this time. But there was sufficient staff,” the official said.
“Yes, sometimes the relatives were asked to take care of patients because some patients were not in their senses. The staff couldn’t be around because they had to take care of the other patients.”
(Edited by Arun Prashanth)
Also read: Chhattisgarh blames Maharashtra for Covid spike, but border checks at Rajnandgaon ‘missing’
Indeed it is a case of twenty four murders, not mere deaths. The hospital staff didn’t seem to have any clue about handling gases under high pressure. And have we ever come across any bureaucrat admitting their lapses. Nothing happens to them except suspension for some days.
As usual the Print should blame somebody although it may be pipe fitters fault. The print as usual will circumvent the fact and blame somebody in the politicians.