Oxygen supply disruption kills 4 Covid patients in Faridpur

Disruption in the central oxygen supply in the ICU of a Covid-19-dedicated hospital in Faridpur has led to the death of four patients in under 10 minutes.

The tragic incident happened at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical College (BSMMC) Hospital on Friday morning.

The incident has caused a tense environment in the hospital, several sources in the hospital said.

“My mother is undergoing treatment at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). A doctor from the ICU suddenly called me in at around 10am this morning and asked to urgently arrange for an oxygen cylinder,” an attendant of one of the ICU patients told Dhaka Tribune.

At that time, the doctor expressed concern about losing patients because the central oxygen supply to the ICU had been disrupted, the attendant, who wished to remain unnamed, added.

“Within 10 minutes of that conversation, I heard that four patients in the ICU had died,” he said. “It’s tragic.”

Dr Ananta Kumar Bishwas, in-charge of the ICU, said the oxygen flow disruption happened because the hospital’s reserve was being refilled at the time.

“The pressure of the flow was lowered for a while in order for the staff to be able to refill the reserve, as the oxygen supply in our hospital was running low,” Dr Biswas said. “The process took some time. That is when this incident happened.”

The BSMMC Hospital is the only Covid-dedicated hospital in Faridpur district. Its ICU has 16 beds, all of which are fully functional, according to hospital officials.