Officials deny lack of oxygen as reason of death of COVID patients in MP's Shahdol

The Shahdol District Magistrate (DM) Satendra Singh has denied that the death of 12 COVID-19 infected patients in Shahdol Medical Hospital was due to shortage of medical oxygen.

"Nobody died of oxygen shortage. Only six deaths were reported till 8 am. They were critical due to comorbidities. We have sufficient supply of oxygen," Singh told .

As many as 12 COVID-19 infected patients lost their lives in Shahdol Medical College in Madhya Pradesh allegedly due to the lack of liquid medical oxygen on Saturday night.

"We received a call from dean of the Shahdol Medical College who informed about the dropping pressure of the oxygen tank in the hospital. He informed us about using backup cylinders and asked us to provide them with more cylinders," Singh told .

"The district hospital immediately reached the college with backup oxygen cylinders. We are continuously arranging medical oxygen," the DM said.

MP Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang also denied that there was shortage of medical oxygen.

"Spoke to medical college's Dean and learnt that they did not die due to oxygen shortage. They were in critical situation. Had it been due to oxygen shortage, other patients on ventilator would have also suffered," Sarang said adding that they will investigate the matter.

Former chief minister of the state, Kamal Nath, however, said the state government is misleading about the supply of oxygen for COVID-19 patients.

In a series of tweet, Kamal Nath slammed the CM over the incident.

"Has the government not woken up even after deaths due to lack of oxygen in Bhopal, Indore, Ujjain, Sagar, Jabalpur, and Khargone," he tweeted.

Madhya Pradesh reported 11,269 new COVID-19 cases, 6,497 recoveries, and 66 deaths in the last 24 hours on Saturday. Bhopal saw a jump of 1,669 coronavirus infections.

As per an official statement from the state, there are currently 63,889 active cases in Madhya Pradesh. So far, 3,27,452 recoveries and 4,491 deaths have been reported in the state.

( With inputs from ANI )