Families Of Two Patients, Who Died Of COVID-19, Protest In Telangana

Relatives of two COVID-19 patients who died at the government hospital in Nizamabad, Telangana, today staged a protest alleging that the patients died due to medical negligence, a charge denied by the hospital.

Three COVID-19 patients had died at the Nizamabad Government General Hospital on Thursday night and relatives of two of the dead held protests.

The relatives, who staged demonstrations outside the hospital, alleged that the patients were not provided with oxygen at the hospital while they were undergoing treatment for coronavirus, resulting in their deaths.

Refuting the allegations, Nizamabad Government General Hospital Superintendent Nageswara Rao said there was no negligence on the part of the doctors, para-medical staff or shortage of oxygen supply.

He said one of the patients, a 75-year-old woman, was severely ill and her oxygen level dropped to 67 per cent while the second patient's, a 50-year-old man, oxygen saturation level came down to 83 per cent.

The third patient, a 50-year-old woman, who also was suffering from hypertension, had also less levels of oxygen saturation.

"All the three COVID-19 patients were admitted to the hospital in poor health condition last month. There was neither medical negligence nor shortage of oxygen at the hospital," the superintendent said.

He said the government had supplied oxygen cylinders in bulk which were being used in case of oxygen supply coming down through the centralised system.

The bodies were sent for funeral as per COVID-19 guidelines.