Rajasthan Doctor, 2 Nurses Off-Rostered After Ventilator Malfunction Kills Patient

A doctor and two nurses of MDM Hospital in Rajasthan's Jodhpur were removed from duty today, a day after a cancer patient died due to a disruption in the supply of oxygen caused by a power shutdown in the trauma centre of the state-run facility.

The action was taken following a preliminary report by the inquiry committee constituted by the hospital administration to fix responsibility for the incident.

Dr Kuldeep Singh and two nurses have been put on APO (awaiting posting order), hospital superintendent Vikas Rajpurohit said, adding that a detailed inquiry was in progress.

A parallel administrative inquiry has been ordered into the incident by the divisional commissioner. Additional District Magistrate Sanjay Basu will conduct the probe and submit a report by Monday.

Rajasthan Medical and Health Minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar reached the hospital this evening and held a meeting.

He enquired about the incident from the hospital superintendent and directed him to take strict action against those responsible for it.

He also directed the administration to take action against the ventilator supplier for the failure of its power backup system.

Gopal Bhati, a cancer patient admitted at the MDM Hospital, died early morning on Friday after the supply of oxygen was disrupted following a power cut, which led to the ventilator dysfunction. An attempt to engage a generator to resume the power supply also failed.

The patient's family alleged that the on-duty doctor was not present at the centre and the male nurse could not handle the situation.

"Had they swung into action and resumed the supply of oxygen by making an alternative arrangement, the patient could have been saved," a family member said.

This is the second such incident at the hospital in nearly 15 years.

In 2011, three patients died due to a disruption in the supply of oxygen.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)