Agra Hospital which was sealed after owner’s oxygen supply cut claim gets clean chit

Agra’s Paras Hospital which was sealed by the Uttar Pradesh government after a purported video of its owner went viral where he claimed to cut off the oxygen supply to COVID patients, has been given clean chit in the probe that followed to verify the claim. The committee probing the matter has concluded that no death has occurred due to the owner’s action.

The 4-member committee said in its report that all patients in the hospital were treated as per Covid protocol and listed the details of their oxygen supply. It also said that the oxygen supply of any patient was not interrupted and the hospital had been given adequate oxygen supply. The report stated that patients who died had comorbidities and were critical.

According to the committee’s report, 16 patients had died on the said day when the owner claimed to have carried out the alleged mock drill.

Officials however found the hospital guilty of spreading fake information when the Covid wave was at its peak, said the report. The hospital discharged patients citing lack of oxygen even when there was enough supply, the probe found. Action against the hospital will be taken under relevant sections of the Epidemic Act, officials stated.

In the viral video, Paras Hospital owner Dr Arinjay Jain was heard saying that he cut off the oxygen supply for five minutes as part of a mock drill and claimed that 22 patients turned blue due to the incident. However, it was not clear whether he was referring to suffocation or death. It was speculated that 22 people died that day. He also claimed to have asked attendants of patients to bring their own oxygen cylinder or either take discharge from the hospital.

The government probe found that 10 complaints were filed against the hospital which merited setting up of the death audit.

Dr Jain had told The Indian Express that he adjusted the oxygen flow to check what amount of the supply was required. “We identified 22 patients who required high flow oxygen. We had sleepless nights over oxygen supply and this was our experiment to stabilise supply. We did not cut off oxygen as is being said everywhere. There is no irreversible impact of lowering oxygen supply,” Jain had said.