Peshawar hospital suspends seven employees after oxygen deaths

PESHAWAR: Seven employees including the director of Khyber Teaching Hospital were suspended on Monday following the death of Coronavirus patients due to an interruption in gas supply. 

Six patients who were under treatment in the government facility expired after a delayed supply of oxygen.

More than 200 patients — including nearly 100 with coronavirus — were left for hours with limited supplies of oxygen at a government-run hospital in Peshawar.

“The Chairman, Board of Governors MTI KTH has taken a serious notice of the interruption in oxygen supply to the critical patients last night, which resulted in the loss of precious lives of 5 admitted patients admitted in Covid isolation ward and 1 patient in ICU of MTI KTH, which is highly regretted,” the inquiry report said.

Thank you to BoG KTH for directly supervising the inquiry & completing their work within 24 hrs. A sombre moment; please spare a prayer for the bereaved families.
We committed to make the report public. Hospitals across the country may learn from the systemic failures here. pic.twitter.com/yENhDrctWJ

— Taimur Khan Jhagra (@Jhagra) December 7, 2020

It said that seven employees, including the hospital’s director, have been suspended with immediate effect.

Sharing the report on Twitter, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Minister Taimur Khan Jhagra said that hospitals from across the country should learn from the “systematic failure” here.

Hospital spokesman Farhad Khan blamed a private supplier, saying the Rawalpindi-based company had “failed to meet the growing demand”.

Pakistan has reported more than 400,000 cases of coronavirus — including over 8,000 deaths — since the virus arrived in late February.

Intensive care units in hospitals across the country are now almost full, with provincial governments struggling to deal with the soaring caseload.