A quick intervention by staff saved the lives of 14 patients on oxygen support in the Parbhani district hospital in Maharashtra as the pipeline supplying the life-saving gas developed a leak after a branch of a tree fell on it, officials said on Wednesday.
After noticing the leak on late Tuesday night, the staff of the hospital shifted the patients on jumbo oxygen cylinders for breathing, Deputy Collector Sanjay Kundetkar told PTI.
"Around 11.30 pm, a branch of a tree fell on the pipeline which carries medical oxygen from the storage tank to the casualty and burns ward of the hospital, which caused leakage. The fault was detected and simultaneously 14 patients admitted in the casualty section were shifted on jumbo oxygen cylinders for breathing. The supply of oxygen was switched off for repairing the leak," he said.
According to Kundetkar, the oxygen supply was interrupted for merely 2-3 minutes.
He said technicians repaired the pipeline within two hours.
"No casualty was reported in this incident. The oxygen supply was restored around 4 am," the deputy collector added.
On April 21, at least 22 patients died due to the interrupted supply of oxygen at a civic hospital for COVID-19 patients in Nashik following the leakage of the gas from a storage plant.
