Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday slammed the government and demanded strict action against those responsible for the death of 22 people at a hospital in Agra due to shortage of oxygen.
Rahul Gandhi cited a news report about a purported video of a doctor at a private hospital in Agra going viral on social media, in which doctor admits that 22 people died after he shut oxygen for 5 minutes during a mock drill.
Taking to Twitter, Rahul Gandhi said: "There is an acute shortage of oxygen and humanity in BJP rule. There should be strict action against those responsible for this heinous crime. My condolences are with the family members of the deceased in this hour of grief."
Meanwhile, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra shared the doctor's video on Twitter, and questioned who was responsible for the death of 22 patients.
“PM: 'I made sure there was no shortage of oxygen' CM: 'There’s no shortage of oxygen. The property of those spreading rumours about shortage will be confiscated.' Minister: 'Give just enough oxygen patients need. Don't give too much oxygen.' Agra hospital: 'There was no oxygen. Mock drill was conducted by turning off oxygen for 22 patients.' Who's responsible?” Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted in Hindi.
A video is doing rounds on social media in which Dr Arinjay Jain, the owner of Paras Hospital in Agra, is heard saying that the oxygen supply was cut off for five minutes. It has been reported that at least 22 patients admitted to both Covid and non-Covid wards may have died in the incident.
"We were told that even the Chief Minister cannot get oxygen, so start discharging patients. We started counseling families. Some were willing to listen but the others said they would not leave. I said ok let's do a mock drill. We will find out who will die and who will survive. So we did that at 7 am. A mock drill was done. No one knows. Then we identified 22 patients. We realised they would die. This was done for 5 minutes. They started turning blue," Arinjay Jain can be purportedly heard saying in the clip, reported NDTV.
Both Agra District Magistrate P.N. Singh and CMO R.C. Pandey on Tuesday reacted to the development, saying an inquiry has been ordered and action would follow on the basis of its report.
"We'll look into the video surfaced about these deaths. There were 22 critical patients admitted in the hospital but have no details of their death," Singh has told the media.
(With inputs from PTI and IANS)
